Millennial Panic
by Shadou Fireborn
Summary: In another timeline, Sailor Moon failed to show up before the Inner Senshi are overwhelmed and killed by the Dark Kingdom. A visitor from that bleak future gives the current Senshi a chance, and a very different Sailor Moon has to struggle to accept the princess she had been. Ranma and Sailor Moon crossover.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon, Ranma 1/2, and all related characters are properties of their respective owners. I don't own any of it, and won't make a penny for the creation of this work. Please don't sue me for the $0.42 and used chewing gum wrapper I own.

* * *

In a formless void outside of normal space and time, there is a small island of reality. This small sphere of normal space-time where there should have been nothing allowed people of ancient times the ability to do something that should have otherwise been impossible: Travel through time. A space-time gate was constructed there, and the people of that time used the door to turn their civilization into a paradisical utopia unmatched in any time before or since. But meddling with time has its price, and when the civilization's origin became tied up in the gates, the civilization stopped existing. The past, present, and future of the civilization were wiped out in a single instant, leaving only an abandoned relic in a place where time and space should have no meaning as a monument to that civilization's folly.

The monument was found millenia later by a girl with fledgeling powers over space. She was a diplomat for a queendom ruled by magic, spanning a solar system. Her ability to view and teleport to anywhere instantly was invaluable to a civilization that spanned light-years, hastening the development of the civilization and giving it a unity that would not have been possible until it developed faster-than-light communication hundreds of years later.

The development of faster-than-light communication started a time of unparalleled peace and prosperity for the queendom that lasted nearly a thousand years. The queendom developed and spread to cover the entire solar system it resided in, and assigned guardians to each of the planets inside its borders. It was at the beginning of this time, this Silver Millenium, that the diplomat girl discovered a point in space that was connected to all others, yet was somehow outside of normal space. Investigation of this point led to the discovery of the artifact left by a civilization that never existed. It didn't take long for her to figure out that this point in space was connected to all points in time it had traveled through as well, augmenting her ability to view any point in space; while she was in the vicinity of the artifact she was able to view any point in space at any time in the present or past. Her ability to teleport remained rooted in the present, but her innate abilities, augmented by the artifact, left her uniquely suited to become the guardian of said artifact.

It was when she began looking into the paradoxical origins of the artifact that she began to understand the full importance of guarding the artifact from those that would abuse it, and when she revealed her findings to her queen she was given a strict mandate, three things she was forbidden to do. She was never to use the artifact to travel through time. She was never to abandon her post at the artifact. She was never to use the artifact to stop time. The artifact was sealed, and she was given the key. She spent the remainder of the Silver Millenium guarding the artifact from those that would use it to meddle with time, the dull tedium broken only by summons from her queen.

When the Silver Millenium began to fall to outside invaders calling themselves the Dark Kingdom, she was sorely tempted to break the Queen's first taboo and prevent it all from happening. Instead, she broke the second, and begged the queen to release her from the first. She was denied, and her punishment for breaking the second taboo was that she would be forced to watch the queen's death from the artifact, where she could do nothing to prevent it. The queen sealed her ability to teleport while she was at the gates, the seal only breaking when the queen released her last breath. By the time she was able to return to the Queen's palace, it was too late. The only survivors were a pair of Mau, the queen's most faithful and trusted advisors, both in grief over the death of their charges: one the Princess of Venus, and the other the Princess of the Moon. She promised the two they would see their charges again one day, and sealed them in a stasis chamber to await that day, before returning to the artifact to grieve.

It was centuries later that the grief-stricken girl finally realized the significance of what the Queen had done. She had watched the queen cast a spell to fling the true star seeds of the planetary princesses and her daughter, along with their souls, forward in time. Those souls would need help and guidance in the future, and the queen had chosen her as the one to provide it. The queen hadn't been cruel in forcing her to watch her death with no way to prevent it. She had sacrificed herself that the souls of her daughter and the seven girls she loved like they were her daughters could live in the future, and prevented her from throwing herself into a futile death, all so the nine of them would have a chance for a future.

* * *

It had been thousands of years, and something in her could feel the ripples of magic caused by the Queen's final spell finally start to ebb. It was time for the princesses to return and awaken. She released the stasis lock on the two Mau, Luna and Artemis, and sent them to find their charges once again.

* * *

Sailor Pluto had watched the girl that had awoken to the mantle of Sailor Venus since Artemis had discovered and awakened her. The girl was very much like she was in her past life; spirited and resourceful, and with a touch of boy craziness. That last was to be expected for a girl with a magical domain over love. She had triumphed over the Dark Kingdom in London, acting as a distraction as she posed as the Moon Princess, and giving Luna time to locate the true Moon Princess. Luna, however, had failed to locate any sign of the Moon Princess, and when the Dark Kingdom discovered Venus's deception and that Venus did not have the Silver Crystal they sought, they abandoned London and returned to Japan. Realizing that they had run out of time and the true Moon Princess was in danger, Artemis and Venus returned to Japan and began to awaken the Inner Planetary Princesses, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, and Sailor Jupiter.

It was during their first fight against a Youma that Sailor Pluto sensed something was very wrong. Turning from the void she stared into, she was astonished to see that the artifact was activating. The space-time door, the seal that had been in place since the beginning of the Silver Millenium, that only she had the key to, was opening and something was coming through. Her duty was clear: anyone that would misuse the Gates of Time was to be eliminated. Since she had stood guard over the gates constantly since the Silver Millenium, and would stand her guard for millenia to come, she decided that this threat could only have come from before the Silver Millenium.

And so she was astonished beyond all reason when the intruder came into full view, and she stared herself in the face.

She shrieked. "No! No, no, no, this isn't possible! I am forbidden! You are forbidden! We cannot travel through time! You can't be here! You mustn't!"

As she left the space-time door open behind her, the identical Sailor Pluto, complete with her own Key, smoothed her skirt. "Now, that's not a very proper welcome now, is it? After all, I went through the trouble of breaking the Queen's first and second taboos to come deliver a warning to you."

Current Pluto gaped for a moment at her future self's candidness, then closed her mouth and gulped. For her future self to knowingly break two of her taboos to change the past could only mean that the threat to the future was dire. After struggling for a moment to find her voice, she shakily replied, "O-okay. What do I need to know?"

"That's better," said future Pluto. "I don't have much time, so I'll need to keep this brief." The irony of the statement was not lost on either of them; imagine the guardian of time having a lack of that which she guards.

"In my time, the moon princess was never found. The inner senshi, without Moon's powerful purifying attacks, died one by one to the invading youma. I tried to awaken the outer senshi to help the inners, but I couldn't find them before the inner senshi were all dead." Pain flickered across future Pluto's features at her failure and loss. "The outer senshi didn't last long, and I didn't have a chance to find Saturn."

Current Pluto gasped. "Saturn... The Silence bringer? Why would we want to awaken her?"

"Because she is the second most powerful senshi, her destructive powers are second only to Moon's purification powers, and she has some minor healing abilities. Look at the battle going on right now. What do you see?"

Current Pluto focused on the fight between the inner senshi and the youma. The inners were getting beaten badly, but it was four against one and the Youma was taking just as much punishment. "A stalemate? The girls can't deal enough damage to destroy the Youma..."

Future Pluto nodded. "They'll kill the youma eventually, but the Dark kingdom won this battle. The youma drained more energy than was used to create it and send it here. The next one will be stronger."

Current Pluto looked alarmed. "That's what they're doing? Gathering energy? I have to go help, we have to stop it!"

"No, it's too late," Future Pluto said. "It's already won, no matter when it dies. The victims it was draining are already dead. It has sent their life energy to the Dark Kingdom. Let the four inners have this battle experience, they'll need it.

Current Pluto was troubled. The implications of this were dire, she needed to awaken outer senshi in and quickly. "Will the outer senshi be able to help? I mean, will they help enough? It seems each Youma that is sent will prompt a race to kill it before it gathers enough energy for the next one."

Future Pluto shook her head. "It won't be enough, but it will be the key to awakening Saturn. But time is not on our side. I didn't find the outer senshi in time. You must awaken them right away. They are Haruka Tenoh and Michiru Kaioh; Uranus and Neptune."

A wave of dizziness swept over current Pluto. Being given the names of the outer senshi she would be looking for by her future self was certainly future-changing. Of course, that was the intent, wasn't it?

"Once the outers are awakened, they must find their talisman. You already have yours, the Garnet Orb attached to your time key. In my time, we were never able to find Uranus's or Neptune's. You must awaken Saturn. Her attacks are the key to destroying the Youma before they gather enough energy."

"What about the Moon Princess?" Current Pluto asked. "Wouldn't it be better to focus on finding her?"

Future Pluto shook her head. "I thought the same thing, at first. But we never found her. Luna seemed to think she was in China at one point, but by the time she got there the Dark Kingdom had already beaten the inner senshi. Then Luna turned around and came back to Japan. Either the Moon Princess moved, or Luna was off track. In either case, we can't do anything to help Luna, she's the only one that can locate the Moon Princess. But Luna doesn't have enough time."

Current Pluto thought about that for a moment. "So we need to delay the Dark Kingdom and give her that time. And to do that, we need to awaken Sailor Saturn. Only she has enough destructive power in her attacks to kill the youma before they gather enough life energy."

Future Pluto nodded, and then stumbled. The portal in the time-space door was collapsing, and the door was closing. "Looks like... I ran out of time," she said. She smiled bitterly. "I aimed an attack at my gates to destroy them, then stopped time and stepped through the gates myself. The time stop just wore off. The Dark Kingdom must not get control of the gates." Her key was dissolving, and so was her Sailor Senshi uniform.

Current Pluto gasped. "You didn't just break two of the taboos, you broke all three. Oh, what have you done?"

"The future must change! My present must not come to pass. I knew this could happen, my life was forfeit the moment I stopped time..." Her uniform had finished dissolving, leaving her naked before her past self. "I just... didn't know how much this was going to hurt. Oh, help me, I didn't know." Tears leaked from her eyes as her body began to dissolve into the air, the tears themselves dissolving before they could leave her face. "I didn't know! Please help me!"

Current Pluto looked at her future self in pity. There was nothing she could do, and both of them knew it. "She knew." The whisper that left Future Pluto's lips, and the mercifully short scream that followed chilled her to her soul as Future Pluto finished dissolving, leaving only her starseed in her place. The starseed dimmed, shattered, and then the shattered pieces dissolved.

To say Sailor Pluto was shaken would be an understatement. She felt sick and nauseous, and she wanted nothing more than to leave the artifact and never return. Her future self had ceased to exist, right before her eyes, for daring to try to change the past. But she had been given her duty, and her duty weighed more heavily on her than her newfound fear of what the artifact was capable of. The future now depended on her to change it, and she would not let her future self's sacrifice be in vain. She looked into the formless void, and focused her sight on the two girls her future self had mentioned.

* * *

Luna was tired, hungry, cold, wet, and miserable as she huddled under a piece of cardboard shielding her from the rain. She had wandered all over Tokyo, living as a stray cat does, searching and waiting for any sense of the Moon Princess she was charged with finding. It had been years, and there was still no sign of the Princess.

She sighed miserably. She often wondered why her life was so hard, why she was given an impossible task. But it meant more to her than anything to be able to see Princess Serenity again, no matter what guise she was in in her current life. She missed her. Even now, she could almost feel the warmth and love she shared with the Princess through the bond that connected them...

Wait, she could feel the bond. She raised her head, looking in the direction the sense of the bond had appeared. It was weak, but it was there. And it was... distant. It felt like she wasn't even in Japan. Was that the direction of China? She struggled to her feet, getting ready to leave her shelter and pursue the feeling of the bond, and a pair of long, black, heeled boots stepped in front of her. Her eyes travelled up the long legs they were attached to, to the black miniskirt and white leotard, and finally to the green hair framed face of the woman that had put her in stasis and released her in this time.

"She's in China, isn't she?" asked the woman.

Luna nodded. "You've been watching me?"

The woman didn't answer that directly. "Your mission to find the Moon Princess is more important than you know. But you must not follow her to China, that would cause a critically fatal delay in locating her. Wait until she returns to Japan."

"How do you know? Who are you?" Luna asked.

"I am Sailor Pluto, the guardian of time. And I know because... a friend told me." The woman who had identified herself as Sailor Pluto turned, and vanished before Luna could react to that.

Luna sighed. She took what comfort she could in that her mission didn't seem so impossible anymore. She would be reunited with her beloved princess, all she had to do was wait. She shivered, and settled back down in her shelter. She was still cold.

Back at the artifact, Sailor Pluto shook the water out of her hair. She was taking a desperate gamble, that the information she had received from her future self regarding Luna was solid. Luna in her future self's time had travelled to China, and then started to return to Japan, but by then it was too late. She couldn't afford that kind of delay this time. The world needed Sailor Moon.

She had awakened the Outer Senshi, and they had located their Talismans. Sailor Saturn had been awakened, but this was barely enough. The Senshi could kill the youma before the youma killed their victims, but the life energy they gathered did not return to the victims at the youma's death; the Dark Kingdom received that energy, and it always seemed to be enough to make the next youma even stronger. Even her own personal involvement in the fights was required, they needed every senshi. Just when it seemed they had found a balance, a stalemate, they discovered the Dark Kingdom had started to send more than one Youma. By the time they were able to dispatch the first (which took the entire team) and track down the second, the second had already killed its victims and returned. The balance had shifted again in favor of the Dark Kingdom, and there were no longer any survivors among the youma victims of either attack, and the youma were growing ever more powerful. And finally, the Dark Kingdom stopped sending multiple youma, and instead sent a single, powerful youma that the Sailor Senshi could not defeat before it finished its mission and returned to the Dark Kingdom.

She had brought up the idea of using the Silence to the team, but that idea was vetoed by Sailor Saturn herself; she refused to end everything as long as there was a chance to defeat the Dark Kingdom without it. But that chance was fading quickly, the light of hope was dimming fast. If Luna did not find and awaken Sailor Moon, the end of the world was a mercy compared to what awaited them.


	2. Chapter 1

A large, overweight, balding man in a martial arts gi, and a shorter but still tall, black-haired youth in Chinese silks were walking together down a road in Nerima, both of them lost in their own private thoughts. Genma, the older man, had thoughts that were actually rather simple. He was looking forward to finally getting his son, Ranma, locked into an engagement with one of the daughters of his old friend Soun. Uniting their martial arts schools was a dream he and Soun had had since before Ranma was born... and it would assure him of an easy life living on the Tendo Dojo property Ranma would inherit.

Arriving at the Tendo Dojo couldn't come sooner, as far as Genma was concerned. The boy had become too independent for his own good, and now he was even distancing himself from his own father. Even now as he walked next to Genma, Ranma's guard was clearly down and his thoughts clearly somewhere else.

He reached back and punched Ranma in the back of the head. "OW!" cried the younger martial artist. "Whaddid ya do that for?"

"You're getting soft, boy. You must be prepared for an attack from any direction at all times." Genma said.

"Yeah, yeah," the boy said. Genma could see the boy's defenses firm up, even if it still seemed he was a thousand miles away back in China. To be sure, he tried to sweep the boy's legs out from under him and was rewarded by a kick to the face for his trouble as the boy jumped over the attack.

"Have more respect for your father, boy," he growled.

"I will when ya start actin' like one," the boy returned.

Genma blinked. That was certainly new. He decided it was best to take this back into familiar territory and stepped into a familiar stance, one the boy would recognize instantly as a challenge to fight.

The boy was burdened by his own thoughts, even as he took his own ready stance with a sigh. Ever since Jusenkyo, as long as he was in his girl form he was distracted by a growing need. There was something going on somewhere, something important that he needed to be part of. He was needed somewhere, desperately. In China, it had only bothered and distracted him while he was in his girl form, but here in Japan it was unbearable, and so he tried to avoid being a girl as much as possible. It didn't help, he seemed to be a magnet for cold water. As time went on and he got closer to... somewhere, the distraction got worse, even carrying over to his guy form for a length of time, usually a number of hours, after he changed from girl to guy.

It didn't help matters any that those times he was forced to fall asleep in girl form, he had weird dreams of someone else's life. A girl's life, and a princess at that. It made him shudder to think about how insufferably girly she acted. Even though the dreams were kinda nice, and she didn't really have any worries...

One of Genma's punches penetrated his guard, and he found himself up against a wall, in a Ranma shaped impression. "You're getting soft, boy. I'm going to have to retrain you, you're fighting like a weak little girl."

That was exactly the wrong thing to say to Ranma right at that moment, and his ki flared into the visible spectrum in an instant. He was suddenly off the wall and rushing Genma at impossible speed, and Genma barely brought his guard up in time to block. The fury rolling off Ranma as he delivered a punch that pushed the larger Genma back nearly 3 feet was nearly enough to push Genma further just on its own. "I AM NOT A GIRL!" screamed Ranma, anger contorting his features. Genma considered employing the Saotome Secret Final Attack, when suddenly Ranma's rage simply vanished. He was looking off in the distance, and Genma recognized it as the direction he was usually staring off in as of late when he was distracted.

He was just about to exploit that opening, when Ranma's focus returned to him. "Pops, I gotta ask ya somethin'. Can we take a detour? There's somewhere I gotta go, someone I feel like they need me. And it can't wait, it feels like if I wait any longer it's gonna be too late."

Genma frowned. If Ranma felt like he was being called, and it felt that urgent, then it was certainly important to follow the calling. But here he was too close to the Tendo Dojo to turn away, even temporarily. He had to get Ranma there now. Besides, storm clouds were threatening, and he wanted shelter before the rain started. And if Ranma was needed somewhere, surely it could wait long enough for him to meet the Tendos and be locked into the engagement. He could always readdress the issue later, and make it look like his idea. Then he would be able to take credit for it if it turned out to be profitable.

"Look at you. Fighting like a girl, and now you want to follow your feelings like a weak little girl. Are you even a man, Ranma?"

As he spoke, Ranma's ki aura returned. The rage rolling off him was almost tangible, and Genma finally recognized that he was hitting a weak point in Ranma's emotional armor. Ever since Jusenkyo the youth was getting more and more insecure about his masculinity, but he hadn't realized it had progressed to this point. He briefly considered employing the Fierce Tiger Falling Down Technique, but before he could do so the both of them spotted something that set Genma's hairs on end.

Ranma's rage was gone, for sure. But what it was replaced with was an even larger danger to Genma's immediate health and safety. He desperately looked around for something to use as a club, and saw a stop sign rooted in the pavement. Good enough, but he needed his panda strength to uproot it. He upturned a canteen of water over himself to trigger the change.

Ranma was oblivious to all this. In the midst of his rage at his old man once again calling his manhood into question, he saw something that made everything else insignificant. A small, furry, black devil of teeth and claws. And it saw him, too. It was walking toward him. It was going to attack him, and bite and claw and eat him. "C-c-c..."

Genma was frantic. The stop sign had been more difficult than he thought to pull out of the ground, but he didn't see anything else strong and sturdy enough to use. As the cat approached Ranma and he saw Ranma's fear start to visibly hit its peak, he was finally able to break the stop sign out of the ground. He rushed over to Ranma, and swung it at him with all his might.

Ranma was paralyzed with fear. As the little furry demon started running, he felt something in him give way. He screamed out, "CA-ungh..." and merciful darkness overtook him as something connected hard with the back of his head, with just enough force to knock him out.

After knocking his son out cold with the business end of a makeshift club made out of what was once a stop sign but was now dented and unrecognizable, Genma picked up his son and threw him over his shoulder, preventing the cat from getting any closer to him. He bared his panda teeth at the cat, and gave his best roar, or as close to it as he could come in his panda form.

The cat's reaction was almost comical. It had been running full speed toward Ranma, but had started to slow when it saw the panda brain him with the sign. Then when the panda roared at it, it had tried to reverse the direction of its feet, causing it to skid along the ground as momentum did its work. It reversed face, and its paws skittered across the ground as it tried to run faster than inertia would allow, and finally, as it finally found purchase with the ground, it tore off toward the nearest tree and jumped and climbed up into its highest branches.

Genma nearly panted with relief. He did NOT want Ranma to go Neko-ken on him right now. Not in the state of mind he was in before the cat appeared, and especially not without any sure way of getting him back to normal. He walked off toward the Tendo Dojo with the unconscious Ranma over his shoulder, giving nervous looks to the storm clouds that were threatening rain. Sure, he was already a Panda now, but that didn't mean he wanted his fur to get soaked, and it would be better if Ranma arrived male.

* * *

Luna had been ecstatic when she finally caught sight of the Moon Princess. There was no mistaking how the bond between them made Princess Serenity look in her eyes, no matter what kind of disguise she wore. From a distance, she looked like she was disguised like a man, but that didn't make any difference to Luna's senses. The Moon Princess was right there, in front of her. The princess seemed to notice her too, and seemed to freeze. Luna started toward the princess, her feet carrying her faster as she got closer to the destination her heart desired above all else: Princess Serenity's arms, being held in her warm embrace.

Then a giant panda appeared, hit the princess over the head with a stop sign hard enough to leave a sizeable dent in the sign, and roared at her. She didn't have time to analyze the situation, she just ran for her life.

From her safe vantage point at the top of the tree, she was ashamed. Here a youma had just knocked out and kidnapped her princess, and there was nothing she could do. She needed help, but she didn't know how to contact the guardian of time. She was on her own. She didn't have time for self-recriminations, the panda youma was on the move.

The panda youma had picked up the princess and slung her over its shoulder, and Luna followed discreetly so she could find out where its portal was. But as she followed, she became less and less sure that the panda was a youma. She could feel a strange kind of magic coming from it, but she could feel the same energy coming off the princess. The energy might have something to do with why the princess looked like a man, but there was no dark energy coming from either of them.

Her doubts were further reinforced when the panda failed to open a portal to the Dark Kingdom, instead arriving at a large house with a martial arts dojo attached. By now the princess had recovered, and she heard the princess's complaints, albeit in a masculine voice: "Leggo, you old fool!" It was clear from some of her... less than ladylike comments toward the panda that she was familiar with it.

The inhabitants of the house, likely alerted by the commotion the princess was making, opened the door and looked outside, then fled inside the house at the sight of the giant panda. The panda simply followed them inside, and closed the door behind itself. "Hey! You're scarin' 'em spitless!"

* * *

Inside the house, the panda set Ranma down in front of Soun before wandering off to find the furo, leaving Ranma alone with Soun and the three girls that didn't know what to make of him. "You wouldn't be..." started the Tendo Patriarch.

"Ranma Saotome. Sorry about this," Ranma said. He noticed that each of the girls was giving him a different look. The youngest's was openly hostile. Brr... he decided he should avoid that one. He wasn't sure if he liked the speculative look in the middle girl's eyes. The oldest just looked disinterested.

"Ah, my boy. It's so good of you to come so soon," said Soun, and Ranma struggled to escape the hug he found himself wrapped in.

"Look, I don't got any intention 'a marryin' anyone right now. Sorry ta disappoint you, but I got more important things ta do right now, and marryin' someone isn't one of them!"

Genma, still wet and steaming from the furo water he had splashed on himself, walked up behind Ranma and hit him in the head. "Show some respect, boy. You sound like a girl."

Ranma's eye twitched, and he grabbed Genma, threw him out the open back porch door, and into the rain. "Who are you to talk? My old man is a panda!"

"Oh my," said Kasumi. She wasn't really paying attention to what was going on, but rather to the gorgeous dark-indigo furred cat sitting in the kitchen window. Since she found out that Ranma was younger than her, she was not really interested in the marriage discussion. She left to find out if the cat was friendly, and let it in the house if it turned out to be.

"What the..." started Akane, staring at the transformed Genma. She had no intention of marrying the boy, but this was interesting. A man had just transformed into an animal, right before her eyes.

"Hmm..." said Nabiki. Something had seemed slightly off about the boy's reaction, and she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Well, your situation isn't so bad here, is it?" said Soun. "You may stay as long as you want, and court any of my daughters. When you marry one of them, the Tendo Dojo is yours." He looked over to the giant panda, which was headed off again in the direction of the furo. "Genma, you seem to have an interesting story to tell," he said, and the panda just nodded.

Ranma sighed. "Look, I hate ta say this, but I'm not going ta stay here. I got somewhere I need ta be. Someone's waiting for me, and it's important to me that I find them, wherever they might be."

Nabiki finally figured out what it was that seemed off about the boy. His speech was rough and seemed uneducated, but it seemed to her like he was just trying too hard to look that way. The more she listened to him talk, the more she was sure he was slipping some feminine tones into his speech. It also seemed that the longer he talked the less rough his speech was becoming. She sighed. Such a hunk, and he had to turn out to be gay.

"Well, I'm not marrying him," said Akane. "Count me out."

"Oh, you're such a pretty little thing," came Kasumi's voice from the kitchen. "Who would leave you out in the rain like this? Let me give you something warm." She was clearly uninterested in returning to join the discussion.

Nabiki frowned at Akane. "Don't be such a brat," she said. "You don't even know him."

"Well, if you're so concerned about him, why don't you marry him?" Akane returned.

Nabiki frowned, at herself this time for getting cornered by her little sister. She didn't want to say anything about Ranma that the others clearly hadn't noticed yet, but she didn't want to get roped into the engagement either. Suddenly, she thought of an excuse she could use that anyone that knew her well would buy. "I want a guy that can make me lots of money. A martial artist doesn't make much these days," she said.

Akane decided to take that as an insult. "Well excuse me for wanting to carry on our father's school. I'm going out to the Dojo."

"Wait, sis, I didn't mean..." started Nabiki, but Akane was already gone. She sighed. "Guess I'd better go back to my room. I need to finish some homework."

"Oh, Nabiki," called Kasumi from the kitchen. "What homework are you working on? Maybe I could help?"

"Accounting of course. I want to run a business someday, after all." Nabiki said.

Genma had just returned from the furo to see Kasumi step out of the kitchen doorway, and he and Ranma both froze when they saw what Kasumi was holding. Wrapped up in a towel was a small, dark-indigo furred cat, possibly even the same one they had seen earlier. Genma looked around frantically for something to hit Ranma with, something that would deliver enough force to knock the very sturdy boy out cold.

Ranma, on the other hand, was confused. There was a c-c- furry demon right there, and he wasn't afraid of it. Instead, he recognized it. He had seen it so many times in his dreams. But those dreams were just dreams, weren't they? They couldn't have really happened. He couldn't have ever really been a girl. Yet in that moment, all the dreams he had had so far resurfaced, and he remembered playing with this very cat as a little girl, and the love and affection they had always had for each other. No, it wasn't a cat, it was a mau, he realized. A mau that had been his closest friend. Emotion threatened to overwhelm him and he had to hold back tears. He shook his head to avoid that. Men didn't cry.

Genma was getting ready to retreat to minimum safe distance. The boy could go neko-ken at any moment, and he didn't want to become the boy's prime target. But when the boy finally spoke, it wasn't the exclamation of terror towards all things small, furry, biting, and clawing that Genma was expecting. "Luna?" the boy asked, and everyone in the room could hear the emotion in his voice.

The cat jumped from Kasumi's arms with a happy "Mau" and ran up to Ranma. Ranma, to Genma's astonishment, held his arms open for the cat, and caught it as it jumped at him, holding it tightly to his chest.

Ranma was torn. Here, in his arms, was confirmation that in another life he had been a sickeningly feminine girly girl princess. He knew he wasn't a girl, despite the curse that sometimes made him one. He didn't want to be a girl, and he hated the idea that he might be that little girl that had played dress up, had tea parties, and other nauseatingly girly activities. But right now, at this moment, that didn't matter. His oldest and dearest friend from another life was here in his arms, and everything was okay.

He didn't notice that his surroundings had changed until he was thoroughly soaked. It was raining, and this of course triggered his change to his female form. He lost some height, his hair changed color from black to red and spilled down his back to below his waist, and his body shifted to feminine proportions. "Luna, what happened? Where are we?" she asked. Wasn't she just inside the Tendo Dojo, sheltered from the rain? But some part of her realized that this was where he needed to be, and just in the nick of time. She let Luna down, and rubbed at her face. It was the rain, of course. She hadn't just been crying. Men didn't cry.

"I think we're in Juuban," said the Mau. "Look, over there."

Ranma looked, and through the rain she could see a huge beast, attacking a group of girls. There were eight of them, in matching uniforms; a white leotard with a colored skirt, and a ribbon over the chest, each girl with a different color theme to their uniform. Flashes of light seemed to be streaming from the girls to the monster... No, those were attacks, a differently colored attack coming from each girl. The beast, which looked for all the world like a giant bulldog, was attacking back with pounces, swipes, and bites. It was almost comical looking, but Ranma got the sense this was no joke. That big dog was bad news, and had to be stopped.

She rushed the monster, and had the strange urge to make a speech. She shook off the impulse, and settled for a "Hey, you! Why don't you pick on someone that can fight, instead of a bunch of girls?"

She cursed herself for giving away her element of surprise, as the youma focused on her, shaking off the attacks from the girls around. "You," the beast said. "You have a wealth of life energy. More than any 20 normal people. It must be ours!"

"Stop it! You heard it, we can't let it get that girl!" cried the girl with long blonde hair and wearing an orange skirt. Mercury, give us some cover!

"Shabon spray!" came a voice from somewhere, and before Ranma could identify the speaker a thick fog rolled in around her. The beast was unable to see her. She grinned. She couldn't have asked for a better opportunity to attack. "Listen you. My name is Ranma Saotome, heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. And you? You are a bad dog!"

The girl with black hair and wearing a red skirt was the closest one to her, and cried out as she saw her rush the beast. "No, don't touch it!"

Ranma delivered her strongest punch to the beast's muzzle, causing the beast's head and neck to twist unnaturally. Its neck clearly had broken. All the Sailor Senshi gaped at the sight of a normal girl strong enough to do such a thing to a youma with a single punch. Ranma grinned and posed to the girls. "And that is how you do it," she said.

Something was wrong, though. She could... _feel _her life force leaving her. She heard a crack behind her, and turned to see the beast's head snap back into place. "That hurt, but now you're mine," it said, as its attention focused on draining her.

She suddenly understood. She could feel a connection that had formed between herself and the beast when she had punched it, leeching her life force. She pulled at the connection, trying to reverse the flow, but it seemed futile. The beast laughed. "Your life force is mine. Your struggles amuse me."

"We've got to attack it, now!" cried one of the girls.

"No! We might hit the girl!"

"She's as good as dead anyway!"

Ranma's vision swam, as her life energy was leeched away. She couldn't reverse the flow and reclaim her own life energy, but maybe she could stop it? She looked at her fist. She could 'see' her life force leaving her at the point of contact. She charged her other hand with as much of her life force as she could muster, and sliced at the connection. It broke.

"What? No! You were mine, how did you sever the connection! No one should be able to do that!"

"Get out of the way! You're going to get yourself killed!" one of the girls called. Ranma retreated, jumping away from a swipe from the beast. How could she fight something that could leech away at her very life force with every touch? She backed away to a safe distance, the girls resuming their attack as soon as they had clear lines of fire. She felt better now that her life force was no longer leaving her, but she was still somewhat weaker than she had been.

"No! You still have so much life energy! It must belong to the Dark Kingdom! Get out of my way, you little pests!" the beast roared.

"Keep it together, girls! That's one less for the Dark Kingdom," called the girl in the orange skirt. "All together now, let's do it!"

"Supreme Thunder!"

"Shabon Spray!"

"Fire Soul!"

"Crescent Beam!"

"World Shaking!"

"Deep Submerge!"

"Dead Scream."

The beast roared as it was hit by the combination of attacks. "I will see you all dead! And you will be first!"

"Venus, look out!"

"It's still too fast!"

"No! Venus!"

Ranma watched from her safe distance as 'Venus' was hit full force by a swipe from the beast, and went flying into the wall of a building with a sickening thud. Tears returned to her eyes, and she didn't quite know why. Somehow, she couldn't stand to see the girl get so hurt.

"It's on the attack! Fall back!" called the green haired older girl in the black skirt, seeming to take charge as the apparent leader was incapacitated.

"Saturn, now!" called the one with short blue hair and a blue skirt. Some of the girls scrambled to clear the line of fire between the beast and the short, purple haired and skirted girl with the weapon.

"Silence Glaive Surprise!" A bright purple glow temporarily blinded Ranma, and she had to look away. When she looked back, one of the beast's ears was missing.

"It dodged! How did it dodge that again?"

"Look out, Mars!"

Another sickening thud came from somewhere, and Ranma knew this 'Mars' had been hit. She grimaced, and a tear fell from her eye. She rubbed at it. "The rain, it's the rain." But it had stopped raining moments ago, while she was performing her own futile attack.

"There is a way for you to help, you know," said Luna, who was standing at Ranma's feet.

"What, there is? How?"

"You must join the Sailor Senshi there, as one of them. You have the power and ability to do so, you are Sailor Moon."

Ranma's eyes widened, and she shook her head. "Dress up like that, and have to call out those cheesy attacks? No! No, no, no, HELL no!"

Luna couldn't understand the girl's reluctance to join her fellow Senshi. Sure, she seemed to be a bit of a tomboy in this life, but the costumes weren't all THAT embarassing, were they? "What's the matter? They need your help!"

That brought Ranma up short. It was a martial artist's duty to protect the weak. The words, drilled into him by his father, rang in his ears. "But... I'm a guy. I can't join them."

Suddenly Luna understood, or thought she did. She had seen the girl wearing a male form, and she had thought it was a disguise. Now she understood the magic she had sensed from the girl at the time, it was some kind of curse that turned her into a man. It also explained the panda. "That won't be a problem. The purification energy of your transformation will take care of whatever curse is making you male, and let you be the girl you were meant to be."

Luna did a little backflip, and a small brooch appeared out of nowhere and fell to the ground. She looked up to Ranma to see her looking at the brooch the same way one might look at a poisonous serpent.

"I... I can't..." Ranma said. She looked at the brooch, and then looked at the girls fighting the beast. They had lost another one of their number, the girl with the wavy sea-green hair and similar colored skirt. She noticed that the short-haired blonde in the blue skirt had dropped her guard, and was now attacking recklessly. It was just a matter of time for that one now. She bit back a sob and looked away, not wanting to see any more of the girls get hurt.

Since Jusenkyo, she had questioned her manhood. It was hard to be confident in being a man when you were a girl part of the time, but for her it went beyond that. Falling asleep as a girl meant she got to experience dreams of being a little girl. She was cute. She was girly. She was a princess, and played dress-up with other princesses. And right before her was proof that she had once been that same little girl. How could she be that girl and still be Ranma, the man her father had raised her to be?

Through all her excuses, through all her bravado, this is what she really was: an insecure little boy, taken from his mother too early and starved of the love and affection he needed. In the life in her dreams, she had the loving mother he so dearly missed, and the idea that she possessed a happiness in her dreams that he lacked while awake had scared her since she had that first dream the first night after she came out of the Nyaniichuan. The happy little princess, named after her mother.

Luna looked up at her with concern. "Princess Serenity?" she asked.

The dam burst within Ranma, memories of that little girl growing up, dressing up, attending court, dancing with boys, magically shaping gemstones into flower shapes and turning them into flower arrangements, gossiping with other princesses, and other girly, princessly activities assaulted her, and in each and every memory she was happy, and liked what she was doing. "Noooooo!" she cried out, and sobbed into her hands. She was Ranma, she was a man, heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. She was Princess Serenity, Princess and Heir to the Moon Kingdom in the Silver Millenium. She liked sneaking off to Earth to see the pretty plants she would later mimic with her gemflower arrangements, and meeting that boy she liked. She liked martial arts, and making herself stronger to prove that she was the best. Her two lives crashed together, and a sobbing wreck was left in the middle.

Luna was alarmed and concerned for her charge. Right before her eyes, simply because she had been offered a chance to join her sisters in arms, the girl had suffered a nervous breakdown. She put her paw on the unresponsive and sobbing girl. The crescent moon mark on her forehead glowed slightly.

In the midst of Ranma's turmoil, a memory surfaced. "No matter what happens, no matter what you do, you'll always be my little girl." She could clearly see the face of her mother, Queen Serenity, as she said that. She remembered that moment. She had been sneaking off to Earth to see Prince Endymion. She was caught by one of the inner guard, and given a thorough chastening. She had been so distraught by something they had said to her, that upon her arrival in the Moon Palace she had run straight to her mother, interrupting an important meeting between her and some of the Planetary Guardians, and apologized with all her heart for being bad and begging her mother not to disown her. She still remembered the looks of... amusement? On some of the planetary guardians' faces, and some of them even chuckled at her antics. But her mother never laughed at her, and let her cry into her lap, stroking her hair. "You'll always be my little Princess Serenity, always."

Superimposed over the face of Queen Serenity, she saw a face she barely remembered. A face framed by red hair, and filled with love for the little boy she had been. "No matter what he teaches you, no matter where you go, you'll always be my little boy." He had come crying to his mother the day before he was to leave with his father on a training trip. He'd been told that it would be a long time before he would see his mother again, and that had upset him deeply. He had come to his mother, telling her that he didn't want to go, that he didn't care about martial arts if he couldn't be with her. She had held him as he cried into her shoulder. "You'll always be my little Wild Horse Ranma, always."

A voice came out of nowhere, and she recognized it as her father's, something he had said just after Jusenkyo. "Are you going to let turning into a girl stop you from being a man?"

Her eyes opened, and she saw her dearest friend looking at her with concern. She smiled at Luna, and pet her. "Sorry, I'm okay now," she said. She still wasn't sure of herself or who she was, but there was one thing she knew now. She had two mothers that would love her no matter what, and that was enough for her for right that moment.

Looking up, she saw that things had gone from bad to worse for the senshi. There were only three left; the girl in the black skirt and green hair, the brown-haired girl in a green skirt, and the short purple haired girl in the purple skirt, with the weapon. The two remaining without weapons were obviously screening for the one with the glaive to do something.

She reached down and grabbed the brooch, and stopped, realizing she didn't know what to do. "How d-" The sound cut off as the words left her mouth. She had finished the sentence, but somehow the sound had stopped. It wasn't just her. Everything around her, the whole world had gone silent, and there was a sickening purple glow starting to linger over everything. She looked at the one with the glaive. The girl had raised her weapon and was holding it high, the purple glow seemed to be emanating from her. Whatever she was doing, Ranma knew that it couldn't be allowed to finish. She started to run to the girl, to stop her from doing what she was doing. She tried to cry out for the girl to stop. She did neither of those things. Instead, she raised the brooch up high, and her voice rang crystal clear across the Silence as the words she had kept buried in her heart since she was dunked in the Nyaniichuan sprang to her lips.

Saturn had raised her glaive with the intent to end the world, and the Silence had answered. It did not take long for that Silence to spread and cover the world, the whole planet. She was the silence bringer. It was within her power to end the world. No special incantations, no long spells. Just raise her glaive and let her Silence cover the world, and then bring down her glaive to end it. There was no hope left for the world. The Sailor Senshi were defeated, the two left only buying her the moments she needed to complete this act and destroy everything rather than let the Dark Kingdom turn Earth into their energy factory. Her Silence now covered everything. She changed her stance and started to bring down her glaive, but then something intruded on her Silence. A phrase, words spoken in a voice clear and pure. It reverberated through the Silence, sounding in the ears of all within it.

"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

Saturn was astonished at the Voice intruding on her perfect Silence, and her concentration failed. The glaive dropped, but it no longer had her intent to end it all behind it. The glaive released its power, but it was undirected, unfocused. It washed over the world, but a second power had sprung up along with it. This power flowed from the hearts of all who heard the Voice, and the power washed away the silence and purified the glaive's terrible energy. Everywhere the Voice was heard, those that heard it felt their hopes raised, even if they did not know why. And back in Juuban, a girl with long, fiery red hair tied back in a ponytail by a crescent moon marked hair ornament stood in a Sailor Senshi uniform with a blue skirt, long red boots and chest bow, and a crescent-marked tiara that marked her as the true Princess of the Moon.

"A dog is man's best friend, a comfort to some, a companion to others, and many depend on them to see for them. To use such a form to spread terror and chaos is unforgiveable. In the name of the moon, and for all those that have fallen in defense of the dog's honor, I'm going to destroy you!" Ranma cried out. But then suddenly, giving a speech seemed to have been a huge waste of time. Why had she done that?

The beast bowled through the last two defenders, and sent Saturn flying with a terrible swipe. It turned toward her. "Brave words, but you weren't in time to save your friends. Now you're alone, and you have no chance."

Ranma laughed. "I don't lose," she said, and blurred forward toward her opponent.

* * *

Thanks to the members of fukufics that helped me fill in some plot holes and cut out a plot device I was never really happy with, and especially to frice2000, whose help in finding and squashing gramattical and continuity errors has been invaluable.


	3. Chapter 2

Sailor Pluto had been throw clear, hit a wall, and slumped to the ground dazed after the beast's rushing attack which ended in Sailor Saturn being incapacitated. She tried to find her focus. Something important had just happened, something she had been hoping for for a long time now. The Moon Princess had returned to them at last.

But now Sailor Moon stood alone against a youma that had bested all of the other senshi working together. Sailor Moon, alone, stood no chance against the monster, Sailor Pluto was sure of this. She struggled to her feet, using her time key to help push herself up. One thought dominated her thoughts: the Moon Princess needed her.

She stood on unsteady feet, still unable to stand without supporting herself on the Time Key, when she saw the opening round of attacks between Sailor Moon and the youma. She had expected it to be over quickly, and despair filled her as she thought she was going to be forced, once again, to watch a Serenity die and not be able to do anything about it. One swipe, and it would all be over. The youma could finish the job it had started at its leisure, killing the nine senshi who were in no shape to fight back.

Sailor Moon charged. The beast swung its paw. The paw intersected Moon's path, and when it passed, Sailor Moon was no longer there. Setsuna waited to hear the sickening thud of a body connecting with a wall, or the ground, or something. The sound never came.

"Too slow!" She heard a voice from above, and saw an impossible sight. She hadn't even seen her jump, but there Sailor Moon was, high in the air. "Death from above!"(1) Moon delivered a flying kick to the top of the youma's massive head, sending it smashing forcefully into the ground.

Pluto was positive she hadn't just seen that correctly. Sailor Moon had challenged the youma to a one-on-one physical confrontation, and in the opening round had not only got the better of the exchange, but had come away unscratched. Moon jumped down from the top of the youma's head back to ground level, and stood in front of it. She took a coquettish pose. "Is that it? I'm disappointed."

"I'll make you EAT those words," the youma growled, and faster than Pluto could follow, it pounced on Sailor Moon, who was too close to possibly dodge.

"What are you doing? I'm back here," said Moon who, impossibly, stood behind the youma. She jumped up and kicked its tail. The beast roared, spun, and swiped at Moon, who was no longer there. She was now sitting, quite calmly, on top of its head.

Pluto was doing her best impression of a fish out of water at this point, her mouth gaping open and shut. Was... was Sailor Moon TOYING with the youma?

Moon noticed her from her vantage on top of the youma's head. She waved. "Hey, Puu-Puu! Do you think you could wake up the others? I might need some help."

Pluto's eye twitched. She HATED that nickname, and she knew Princess Serenity knew it.

The youma roared as Moon gave away her location, and shook its head violently. The motion sent Moon flying high into the air, and she came down hands first toward the rear of the youma. Pluto was astonished to see Moon deliver a flying, two-handed spank to the youma. Much like a real dog, the youma yelped. "Bad dog!" she heard Moon exclaim.

Suddenly, Pluto understood. Moon was distracting the beast, acting as bait, to give the other senshi time to recover. She had used that damnable nickname to shock her out of her stupor, and get her moving. As the fight between Sailor Moon and the youma picked up in tempo, she turned her attention to her other fellow senshi. Venus was already starting to come around, and Mars was stumbling back towards her from wherever she had landed. She turned to attend to Saturn. She was out cold. She looked to Mars. "See if you can wake up Mercury, and then find some water. Hurry." Mars was standing gape-faced at the fight between Moon and the youma. "Mars! Now!" she snapped, and Mars came back to herself and rushed over to where Mercury was lying. She didn't really blame Mars. After seeing the beginning of the fight, she wanted to just stand and watch the fight herself.

Sailor Moon was amazed at her transformation. She could feel her entire being humming with energy, energy that demanded to be used. She had started to use that energy much like she would normally use her ki, with incredible results. She was faster than she ever could have imagined herself being. She seemed to have a limitless amount of energy to use like this... or perhaps the energy simply generated faster than she could use it.

She did not understand what had happened to her, she hadn't had time to sort out the memories of another life floating around in her head, and she still wasn't sure who or what she was. But this? A fight for her life against a tough opponent? This she understood. While one part of her couldn't even imagine fighting the way she was, another part of her lived for it. She had trained for most of her current life for moments like these.

She used her speed to her advantage against the giant dog, and combined with her Anything Goes Insult and Injury fighting techniques, it had enraged her opponent beyond all reason. She now understood that the creature had been toying with the other senshi. The creature was much faster than it made itself out to be, and now that it was attacking her seriously she was barely keeping ahead of it. She dodged and weaved, and every time she had a chance to make the beast look foolish, she took it. At one point, she had clung to its tail, prompting the beast to spin around like a real dog chasing its tail, all the while she taunted it for acting like a real dog, and implying its master wouldn't be happy if it knew what a bad dog it was. The beast was beyond enraged, and that's the way she wanted it. Enraged enemies did not fight smart, and now it was showing her, and the other senshi, what its true speed and power was.

The reason she was doing this was simple. She couldn't figure out how to kill the thing. It seemed to be immune to physical damage, as her first attack before transforming and her powerful kick after transforming seemed to prove. She knew she had broken its neck with her punch, and her kick should have caved its head in, but in each case it just came back as if it were nothing but an annoyance. She could not beat it in hand-to-hand combat, she could only delay it so that those that could beat it could get back into the fight.

A glance in the direction of the other senshi showed that they were just about ready to rejoin the fight, so she tried to get some distance. "What's that?" she asked, pointing behind the beast, but she realized her folly the moment she had done it. The beast was far too enraged to be fooled by the trick.

She had left her guard down for just a moment too long. A giant paw crashed into her, sending her flying into a nearby building. The other senshi chose that moment to rejoin the fight, and now that the beast had demonstrated how fast it really was, they took its speed MUCH more seriously, keeping a greater distance between themselves and it, and scattering whenever it turned in their direction.

Sailor Moon dragged herself out of the person-shaped impression in the wall she had impacted, and brushed herself off. Her father hit harder, and had even done so not too long ago. She walked up behind the green-haired, black-skirted girl. "So, Puu-Puu, how do I use magic?"

Sailor Pluto shrieked, and Sailor Moon grinned as she delivered some karmic retribution for all the times she remembered Princess Pluto sneaking up on her in her past life. As Pluto's heart settled from the scare, Moon saw anger, confusion, and concern warring for dominance on Pluto's face. Something passed between the two of them, an unspoken understanding. They needed to talk, but this wasn't the time or place. Pluto settled for bopping Moon on the head with the Garnet Orb at the end of the Time Key. "Don't call me that!"

"OW! Fine, fine. But still, how do I cast spells like you and the others do? I can use my magic like ki, but I don't know how to cast any spells," Moon said, rubbing her forehead.

Pluto thought about it. "Do you know any ki projectile attacks?"

Moon shook her head. "No, that's something I haven't been able to figure out yet. It just kinda sputters out when I try to project one, and just leaves me tired."

Pluto nodded. "If you knew how to use ki projectiles, you could use magic that way as well. But if you don't, you might have to give up on it. While you're trying to use magic like ki, you won't be able to do anything with it that you don't already know how to do with ki. Try using magic like magic," Pluto said.

Moon thought about it. It made a certain kind of sense. The trouble was, she didn't know how to use magic like magic.

"Hurry," said Pluto. "Thanks to your timely arrival, we're back to a stalemate with this youma, but that can't last long. The senshi are getting tired."

Pluto turned back to the fight and released a Dead Scream, sending the beast off-balance when it looked like it was about to charge at Neptune. She shook her head. No wonder Moon had fought so well. She was trained in the ways of a Life Adept in this life, and was using the much more powerful Purification Magic that was her birthright as the Princess of the Moon instead of her own life energy.

Moon had watched Pluto release her attack, and saw part of the trick. She had been trying to gather the magic within her and project it out through her hands. Pluto, on the other hand, had released the magic from herself, gathered the magic to a point, and then released it. The magic took on its own form as it gathered and flew toward the enemy.

She decided to try it. She did have to stop using the magic like ki at all, because that seemed to prevent her from releasing the magic to outside of herself. She frowned. Using magic like magic would weaken her, she would not be capable of her augmented speed while casting magic at an enemy. She immediately saw the tactical aspects of this. Augmented speed in one case, the ability to attack at range in the other. She hoped the ranged attack was worth it. She held her hands together at her side, and started drawing the magic she released to that point. A shining ball of energy formed there. But it just stayed there growing, she couldn't figure out how to initiate the attack. She looked to Pluto helplessly.

"Call out the attack. The words give the magic purpose," said Pluto.

Moon thought about that a moment, then realized she was going to have to use a stupid attack phrase. She groaned. Well, she might as well get it over with. Hmm... the way she seemed to be holding the magic, it reminded her of a game she had seen outside an arcade once. Some of the characters in the game would charge up an attack between their hands, and shoot the attack out. What was that attack called? Oh, yeah.

"_Tsukidouken!_"(2) she called out, thrusting her hands toward the beast, and the magic responded. As it flew toward her target, it formed into a giant fist, and began to split. It split into two, then four, eight, and finally sixteen separate fist shaped attacks. One at a time, the fists began to accelerate toward the target, the end effect being a line of magical fists flying toward the beast. The recoil from the attack send Moon flying backwards a few dozen feet, to impact the same wall she had left an imprint in before.

"Get clear!" called Pluto, and the other senshi scrambled to get away. The beast saw it coming and tried to dodge, but the attack turned out to not be linear; each fist curving to track the beast. One at a time, each fist connected, and released the energy it contained all at once in a purifying explosion. The final fist connected, and the beast howled as a column of purifying energy encompassed it. In the aftermath of the attack, a large pile of dust was left sitting where the beast had stood. The pile of dust then further dissolved into nothing.

Sailor Moon struggled to regain her feet. She hadn't taken any additional damage from being knocked into the wall, again; she'd had far worse done to her, after all. But after that attack, she felt drained... more drained than she'd ever felt before. Had some of her ki gotten mixed up in that attack? She just wanted to lie down and sleep forever.

She had the presence of mind to be amazed at what magic was capable of. In place of ki, it made her much faster and more resilient, but didn't leave her much in the way of attacks. But that attack... Kami! She would have to leave herself vulnerable to use it, but that was a guaranteed one-shot kill. She just wished it didn't leave her feeling so drained.

A garnet orb came crashing down on her head, knocking her back on her seat. "Do you even know how stupid and reckless that was? Don't you remember anything about magic? You could have just killed yourself!"

She glared up at the black-skirted senshi that had just assaulted her, and jumped back up to her feet, her muscles protesting at the sudden movement. "No, Puu-Puu, I don't remember. I've had memories of my past life warring with my current life ever since my past life started to resurface. Before I can really understand what's happened to me, I have to jump into a fight to save your lives, and stop her," she pointed at the approaching Sailor Saturn, "from ending everything for whatever Kami-forsaken reason she thought it was a good idea. No preparation, no useful memories, and no chance to practice with a weapon that for all intents and purposes I've never even seen before. So you tell me, how stupid and reckless was I?"

"Watch your tone with me, and DON'T you call me that. You may be the Moon Queen's daughter, but that doesn't give you the right to say anything you want," said Pluto, treading on very familiar ground.

"Aren't you supposed to be guarding something?" Moon retorted, furthering the all too familiar argument.

"Spoiled brat!"

"Stuck-up time bitch!"

"Drama Queen!"

"Ice Queen!"

"Crybaby!"

"Bully!"

The two glared at each other as the familiar drama finished playing out. Then suddenly, both embraced the other, tears starting to stream down their respective faces. "It's good to see you again, Sailor Moon."

"It's good to see you too," replied Moon, and with an impish grin she added, "Puu-Puu."

She dodged the predictable attack, stood a few feet away from arm's reach, stuck her tongue out at Pluto, and winked.

"I hate to break up this reunion," started Venus. "But we'd probably better get out of here before the authorities arrive to take the victims to the morgue."

Moon looked confused. "Don't you mean hospital?"

Venus shook her head sadly. "This isn't our first fight. The authorities stopped taking the victims to the hospital some time ago."

"Well that's silly. You can't treat survivors very well at the morgue."

Venus was starting to get annoyed. "Look around you. Do you see any surv-"

A shriek from behind her, and Saturn clinging on to her from behind, cut her off. "I just saw that one move," Saturn said.

She turned around to where Saturn was pointing. Sure enough, one of the bodies she was sure had to be dead was starting to get up, and others were starting to stir. "But... but how?" she asked, then looked wide-eyed at Moon, the implications of this starting to sink in. "Purification energy?"

She turned to Mercury. "Scan them!" she said, but Mercury already had her visor on and her computer out.

"Every single one of them is showing normal life energy levels. They should all be fine after a few hour's rest," she said. "It's like all the life energy the youma had collected returned to its owners when the youma died. I've never seen anything like this."

The two were distracted by Mars, who had doubled over laughing. After regaining herself, she explained. "Sorry, sorry, but I needed that. Oh, Jadeite is NOT going to like this. After all that energy he had to have put into creating that one and sending it here, he loses the youma and is left empty handed." The other senshi smiled as they got the joke.

"Don't you see? This is our victory! A real victory, for once! A clean victory, where the Dark Kingdom didn't get away with anything but a little property damage! If we can keep winning like this, we... we might even have a chance of defeating the Dark Kingdom for good!"

"How do we know it isn't a Dark Kingdom trick?" asked Uranus, to the annoyance of Mars. "I know our memories are faulty, but I certainly don't remember any Moon Guardian in the Silver Millenium."

"Wouldn't Pluto know? You saw how familiar those two ar- hey! Where'd Pluto go?"

"Probably back to her precious gates," said Neptune bitterly. "You know, the ones that would let us stop any of this from ever happening? The ones she guards but refuses to use? Those gates."

Venus turned on Neptune and Uranus. "You two know as well as the rest of us that she has good reasons not to use the gates. As if Queen Serenity forbidding her wasn't enough."

"I don't care!" exclaimed Uranus. "The gates are a weapon, we should use it! Anything to get an advantage against those Dark Kingdom bastards."

"We have an advantage now," said Jupiter, entering the discussion. "Her," she said, pointing at Moon. "If the Dark Kingdom can't get any life energy, they won't be able to send nearly as strong of a youma. We've probably just set them back months, all in one night. I'd say that's one hell of an advantage."

"And what about all the people that died before she showed up? So we can save the youma victims now, big deal! That doesn't help the families of those that are already dead. If she's so great, why doesn't Pluto go back and awaken her before hundreds, thousands of people here lost their lives?" demanded Uranus.

Moon took the comment like a blow to the gut. All those people, dead, when her presence could have saved them. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she bit back a sob.

"We don't know what effect that would have had. For all we know, that would have made things worse! There has to be a reason she didn't appear until just now," said Venus.

This reminded Moon of many a familiar scene in the Silver Millennium, when the Princesses were brought together. Princess Uranus usually found some way of antagonizing either herself or Princess Mars. Princess Neptune joined in with Uranus, and Princess Venus and Princess Jupiter came to their defense. It usually ended in a fight between the four, which was typically broken up by one of the Inner Guard assigned to watch over them. What was happening now was taking an all too familiar direction. She knew she had to do something before it came to blows.

"Yeah? And what reason is that? Where was she when we were fighting, and failing, to kill the youma before their victims died? Where was she when-"

"Stop it! Stop this pointless fighting," she cried out, interrupting the argument. "Don't you see how stupid this is? We were raised to be princesses, we've known each other since we were little girls! We're all supposed to be friends! We can't fight each other like this. We need to stick together!"

Her impassioned speech rang in the ears of the five quarreling senshi and they all turned to face her at the same time, looking at her as if only now really seeing her for the first time.

Venus was the most troubled by it. Especially after that speech, this girl was ringing bells all over the place, but she still couldn't quite place her. She felt like she should be able to, something about the girl was so familiar to her.

Uranus seemed unmoved by the speech. She turned her back on the rest of them with a huff and started walking away, Neptune following shortly after. Saturn looked torn between staying with the inners and following the outers, but in the end chased after the two disappearing senshi.

It was Mars that was finally able to connect Moon with her memories, seeing the hurt and tearful look in Moon's eyes when Uranus and Neptune left. She gasped. "P-princess Serenity? Is that you?"

The other three remaining senshi gasped, when the name triggered memories that had remained buried within them; memories of the Princess of the Moon who had befriended them so long ago. The somewhat spoiled crybaby, who still had a heart big enough for all of them. If it weren't for her, the four of them would probably have never been friends.

Venus's face burned with shame. Now that she remembered, she had spent more time with the Moon Princess than any of the others. The girl had been like a sister to her, and to have forgotten her completely felt like an unforgivable transgression. She felt her throat constrict, and she struggled to find her voice. "Princess Serenity, I..."

Whatever she was going to say was interrupted, as the five girls heard emergency vehicles start to approach. Apparently, authorities had decided it had been quiet long enough to assume it was safe to start gathering the bodies. Imagine their surprise when there would turn out to not be any. "We need to leave this place. We're not very popular with the authorities, they don't like us around when they come to clean up our messes. We have a place we usually meet, will you follow us there?"

"Wait," said Mercury. "Maybe it's time to get some good press for a change. We just had a clean victory against the Dark Kingdom, no fatalities. There's no reason to be ashamed of that."

Moon wasn't so sure about this. "I don't think it would go as well as you're thinking. It sounds like a good idea, but it might be asking for trouble."

"I... no, you're right," said Mercury. "We need to go before they get here then. Can you follow us to the rooftops?"

Moon nodded. Roof hopping was a training method her father had used, after all. Usually after he had stolen something. "Lead the wa- Oh, wait! Where's Luna?" She looked around. Luna was lying on the ground, right where she had been when she had transformed. She ran over to her. "Luna? Luna, are you alright?" No response. She shook Luna gently. "Luna, wake up! Look at me! Please?" A slight groan from the mau was the only response. Tears welled up in Moon's eyes. "Luna!" she cried desperately.

"Moon, we have to go! Bring her with you, but we have to leave, now!" called Venus.

Tears falling from her eyes, Moon picked up Luna as delicately as if she were made of glass, and held the mau to her chest. The senshi took to the rooftops, and she followed, taking the utmost care not to jostle her precious cargo.

* * *

1: Kudos to you if you recognize the reference. If Mookie reads this, I hope he understands that this was an homage to him and takes no offense.

2: Moon Wave Fist

AN: Hello to everyone that has read this fanfiction. If you've managed to read up to this point then either you like what you're reading, or you're some kind of masochist. In either case, thank you for reading my fanfiction, and if you have any criticisms I'd be happy to hear them, as long as those criticisms are _CONSTRUCTIVE_. Insulting language, reviews such as "This sucks" without explaining why you think so, and troll posts will be ignored coming from registered users, and such comments will not survive guest moderation in the reviews. I know that, unfortunately, I can't do anything about such comments from registered users. All I can do is ask that if you don't like my story, don't read it, and kindly keep your comments to yourself unless you can make them constructive. Otherwise, please leave a review, as your interest in the story will be what keeps me interested in sharing.

I have to give credit here to frice2000 of the fukufics forum, who has been helping me catch my spelling and grammar errors and offering advice on certain story points, making the story a much easier read. A BIG thanks goes once again to other members of the fukufics forum, who helped me cut a certain plot device out of the story, which forced me to rewrite the whole thing and ended with the story being much stronger overall. I'm sure I've tested the patience of one or two of them, and for that I can only apologize. I hope that posting a well-written and (hopefully) entertaining story will make up for any perceived slight.

Well, here we are, the second chapter and the third submission for this story. The Prologue was around 3000 words, while chapter 1 weighs in at closer to 6000. At around 4000 words, not including this author's note, chapter 2 seems to be at a comfortable length for a chapter, and I will be attempting to keep each chapter at least this long. This may seem like a somewhat short length for a chapter, but at this length I will be able to continue to post chapters frequently, keep the story moving along, and keep you, the reader, interested. I hope.


	4. Chapter 3

"We're reporting to you live, at the scene of a youma attack. Scenes like this have been a common source of grief in Tokyo, especially for the multitude of people that have had a loved one fall victim to one. But while past attacks have damaged families and cut lives short, this attack has left something that has become nearly unheard of: survivors."

An attractive news reporter stood in the middle of ground zero of the youma attack, where cracked sidewalks and broken stonework were already being inspected by grounds workers. She was joined on camera by a man and turned to him. "You were one of those targeted in today's attack. How do you feel?"

"Tired, like I ran a marathon at a sprint without stopping. But I'm alive, I can be grateful for that," said the man.

"There have been many attacks by these 'youma' before, but in the past six months, none have left any survivors. Even before then, any survivors had to be hospitalized, and most of those survivors are still in the hospital. How does it feel to be one of the few people the Sailor Senshi have ever successfully saved?"

Minako Aino frowned at the TV she was watching. This reporter seemed to definitely be in the 'anti-senshi' camp, the way that question had been worded.

"Well, I don't know about the others that were here today, but I say it's about damn time the Senshi got something right. Too many people die to these attacks, and I was almost one of them. The Senshi don't even seem to care, they just fight the big giant monster and run on home. I wouldn't even be surprised if everyone surviving here was an accident."

Minako was disgusted, and changed to a different news station, where the same scene was being displayed. The sentiment being given was the same: the Senshi weren't responsible for the lack of fatalities, and everyone surviving the attack was an accident. She flipped through a few more news channels, and the same story was being given on each; one channel even went so far as to blame the senshi directly for the youma attacks. She stopped on a channel when she saw the chief of the Juuban district police on screen.

"These girls are in possession of weapons that should be turned over to police forces. Our own weapons have been shown to be useless against the youma threat, and the weapons those girls have would be put to better use in the hands of trained police personnel than a group of girls playing at being heroes. Since these girls playing at heroes has led to the death or hospitalization of thousands of people in and around Juuban, we will be doing everything we can to identify these girls and confiscate their weapons, so that Juuban police forces can do the job we're meant to: serve and protect."

Minako turned off the TV, and threw the remote to bang against a wall in disgust.

"Well, how's that for a vote of no confidence? It looks like she was right, staying to give an interview would have been a mistake; we'd have been arrested, or worse. If I didn't know any better, and I don't, I'd say the Dark Kingdom was behind all the bad press we're getting," she said.

Makoto Kino, sitting across from where Minako had thrown the remote, had a thoughtful look on her face for a moment, then broke down into giggles. Minako gave her a questioning look, and she managed to get out, "Imagine, a police officer in the fuku."

Minako thought about that a moment, then rolled her eyes. "That's not funny, Makoto," she said.

Rei Hino, the owner of the bedroom they were sitting in, looked annoyed at Minako as she retrieved the remote to her TV. The casing was cracked, and testing the remote revealed that it no longer worked. "I'm sure my wall did something horrible to deserve that, but please stop breaking my remotes to teach it a lesson," she said as she pulled a new universal remote out of a nearby basket and began inputting the code to make it work with her TV that she had long since memorized. She looked over to where Ami Mizuno was treating an unconscious Mau, with both Artemis and the girl that had identified herself as Ranma Saotome fretting over her.

Ranma was beside herself worrying about what any of the possible reasons for Luna's malady could be: the youma had stepped on Luna; the youma had drained Luna, and somehow the purification magic didn't return the life energy to a mau; Luna had caught some strange disease from the dog-shaped youma. As Ami finished diagnosing Luna and stood, Ranma looked at her expectantly, unable to wait any more for an explanation of what was wrong with her friend.

"Well, there's good news and bad news," she said. "The bad news is that she's very sick. It seems to be a combination of exhaustion and malnutrition. She's very thin, and she must have been pushing herself hard to collapse like that."

Ranma looked worriedly at Luna. "Is there anything I can do for her? Is she going to make it?"

Ami held a hand up to cut off the stream of questions. "Thats the good news. She isn't in any immediate danger. She should make a full recovery with rest and good food."

Ranma looked immediately relieved, and picked up Luna to cradle in her arms. "Thank goodness. I was really worried..."

"Well, now that things have settled down and the danger to your friend has passed, we would like to speak with you, Ranma," said Minako.

Ranma nodded, and set Luna back down in the makeshift cat bed, comprised of a basket filled with pillows and covered with a blanket. She walked over to where the other girls were gathering. "You want me to join you," she said. It wasn't a question, but a statement of fact.

"We need you," said Rei. "Tonight we dealt a heavy blow to the Dark Kingdom, and probably set them back months, because you were there. We couldn't have done that before, and we won't be able to without you."

Ranma felt a moment of mental dissonance, as two sides of her personality refused for different reasons. Ranma, the man she had been, didn't want to spend any more time in the fuku than he had to. Serenity _hated_ to fight. She shook her head. "It's not that simple for me," she said, but immediately had her doubts. Was the fuku so bad? One side of her said yes, the other said no. Was fighting so bad? Again, a yes and a no. And what else did she have to do that was as important?

Rei could see the internal struggle Ranma was fighting, and decided to leave the matter at that for a moment. Makoto, however, chose that moment to explode into the conversation. "How could it not be that simple? You saved everything tonight! We almost died tonight, and we were that close to destroying the world to save it from the Dark Kingdom! Do you have any idea what the Dark Kingdom plans to do to humanity?"

"We're not just fighting for our lives out there, you know," said Ami. "We're fighting for every living thing on Earth. What could be more important?"

Minako frowned. She, like Rei, could tell that cornering Ranma was not going to help. She could see the girl's struggles apparent on her face, and her own head was full of memories of the time they had spent together in the Silver Millennium. "Hey," she said, setting her hand on the Ranma's shoulder. "You don't have to decide right away. We probably have some time before the Dark Kingdom sends another Youma," she fibbed. In truth, there was no telling when the Dark Kingdom would attack, or how long it would be between attacks. She heard a shocked exclamation from Ami and Makoto, and she turned to them and gave them A Look. The two got the message to be quiet, but they didn't look happy.

Ranma nodded to Minako. "Alright. I'll think about it," she said. "I can't promise anything right now; my life is a bit of a mess and I have a lot to think about as it is." 'A bit of a mess' was an understatement. She didn't know how she got here, and wasn't sure she could find her way back to Nerima, where her father was. But then, did she really want to go back? She looked at Minako. "Can you take care of Luna for me for a bit? I have something I need to do."

"Sure. I take care of Artemis too, after all," she said, causing Artemis to bristle at the thought that he had to be 'taken care of'. "But wouldn't it be better for her to stay at your place?" Minako asked. Surely the girl could look after Luna better than she could herself. She didn't need to be the senshi of love to see how much Ranma cared for the bedridden mau.

Ranma shook her head. "I don't have a place. I just got back from a ten year training journey before Luna caught up with me. I was just... separated from my father, and I need to figure out what to do now."

Minako gasped. The poor girl was homeless! "You can stay with me, if you need to," she said, not even thinking twice about it before speaking up.

Ranma smiled at her. "Thanks, Heart-ch- er, Minako, and I might take you up on that. But as I said, I have something I need to do."

Minako smiled as she caught Ranma's slip, and remembered the nicknames she and Princess Serenity had given each other. She quickly scribbled down her address on a piece of paper, and handed it to Ranma. "Don't hesitate to seek me out if you need any help, okay?"

Ranma nodded, and turned toward the door. Rei followed her to lead her outside. When the two were far enough out of earshot, Ami and Makoto turned on Minako. "What do you think you're doing," said Makoto angrily. "She could be the big break we need to defeat the Dark Kingdom once and for all!"

Minako was surprised at the anger in Makoto's voice, but got over her shock quickly. "That's not all there is to this situation, Makoto. We have her feelings to think about too!"

"What could possibly be more important than defeating the Dark Kingdom? We've been looking for this kind of a break since the Dark Kingdom started their attacks. And now you're willing to throw it away? Tell me, why?" Makoto said, her angry glare matched by Ami as she nodded her agreement.

"Friendship, family... love. Have we been fighting the Dark Kingdom for so long we've forgotten who we are? We're the sailor-suited warriors of love and justice! What kind of monsters would we become if we just used her because of what she can do for us? That's not what we're about!" Minako returned, and she could see doubt creep into the expressions of both girls. "Rei understands this. That's why she wasn't pressing the issue either. If Ranma joins us, it will be as one of us, and not just a tool. She can't do that if she has any doubts about joining us.'

"Also, I just get a feeling from her. Ranma's hurting somehow. I want to help her. She is... she was..." Minako hesitated a bit, stumbling over whether to use the past or present tense, but then just shook her head, deciding it didn't matter. "She's my sister."

Ami and Makoto saw the wistful look on Minako's face as she looked in the direction Rei had led Ranma, and remembered the relationship Princess Venus had had with Princess Serenity. The two had been closer than any of them, sisters in all but blood. Both of their faces burned with shame. They had both been ready to use Princess Serenity's reincarnation as a tool to defeat the Dark Kingdom.

* * *

Ranma had taken to the rooftops as soon as she was out of sight of the Hikawa Shrine. She had seen something as she was roofhopping before, and now that Luna was taken care of she urgently wanted to check it out. As the last twilight started to fade, memories fickered in her mind's eye, and soon she stood before a large property. The house seemed well cared for, and the grounds seemed to have been tended carefully.

She looked down at herself, and sighed. She debated knocking on the door of the property, but she knew that even if the one she remembered living here was still in residence, they would never recognize her. But she so desperately wanted to see them again...

As she was struggling with herself over this, the door opened and a woman stood in the doorway. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the slender lady with red hair done up in a bun, the kimono she was wearing failing to completely hide her figure, and a wooden practice blade at her side. She looked a little older, but there was no mistaking the woman's face, the face she had seen in her memory. Her mother.

The woman was speaking, and she almost missed what she said the first time. "Excuse me dear, but you've been standing in front of my home for the last half hour, at least. Is there something I can do for you?"

Ranma shook her head. "I'm sorry. I just have memories of this place, seeing it brought them back," she said.

Nodoka gave her an indulgent smile. "Well, come in. I don't mind you coming in to reminisce, and I haven't had visitors in such a long time."

Ranma's eyes widened. "Oh, no, ma'am. I couldn't possibly intru-"

She was cut off by the sound of thunder, and the sound of raindrops starting to fall.

The motherly matron gave her a knowing smile. "Nonsense, I insist, I can't leave you to yourself out in the rain and darkness. At least come in and have some tea. If you live far from here, I can prepare a guest room for you; it would not be seemly for me to allow you to walk home this late, a young lady alone in the darkness. You may call your parents and let them know."

She heard something in Nodoka's voice, a loneliness and longing, that made it impossible for her to refuse. "Yes, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am," she said, and Nodoka led her inside. The moment she entered the doorway, she could feel it; a feeling of loneliness permeated the house, and she almost stumbled as she crossed the threshold. Tears swam in her eyes, and it was all she could do not to throw herself into her mother's arms.

"You said you had memories of my home. You must remember my son, right? He left with his father when he was very young, but he'd be about your age now," Nodoka said as she seated Ranma in the living room.

She shook her head as she tried to find her voice. "I lived nearby," she fibbed. She couldn't lie to save her life, but this was true enough... down the hall and to the left was nearby, after all. "Umm... you have a son? What happened to him?" she said, trying to steer Nodoka into a less dangerous topic. Too much prying into her own past would reveal her deception all too quickly, which would leave Nodoka with too many questions and herself with only confusing answers unless she wanted to reveal her curse. But did she even still have the curse? Luna had said...

"Oh, yes. Little Ranma left with my husband on a training trip when he was very young. Genma was going to raise him to be a man among men. I can't wait to see him again, it's been so long. He must be so manly by now." Nodoka said as she entered the kitchen to prepare the tea.

Ranma struggled with the question for some time, listening to Nodoka work in the kitchen, before she asked, "What if you found out Ranma is... not so manly? What if Ranma turns out to be girly? What then?"

"Oh, I'm sure that's not going to happen. My little Wild Horse must be manly," Nodoka replied. "Do you like sugar in your tea?"

"Um, a little," Ranma said. Nodoka's answer had seemed a little off, the way she had stressed 'must'. "But what if Genma failed? What if Ranma isn't manly?" she persisted in the question.

Nodoka narrowed her eyes at the girl that had too many personal questions about her and her son. Clearly the girl had an interest in her son, but the interest seemed more than just passing. She wondered if this was another of Genma's scam victims. Wordlessly, she reached to a mantle below where an immaculate looking blade was hanging, and retrieved a scrap of paper that had been enshrined there. She handed the scrap of paper to the girl.

Ranma read the paper, her eyes widening at the contents. According to this, Genma had pledged to raise Ranma to be manly, a man amongst men, and if he didn't...

"No... No! You have to kill m- your son if he isn't manly? You can't do that!" Ranma exclaimed.

"Young lady, do you see what is hanging on that wall? It is the Saotome Honor Blade. I am keeper of my clan's honor. If Ranma is not the manly son I know he will be, I must use that blade to end his life, or break the blade. It is a matter of honor," Nodoka said disapprovingly. "The tea is ready."

"No, no, no! You can't be like this, you can't!" The shock and denial brought tears to Ranma's eyes. "You're not her, you can't be her! She would never do this!" But Ranma could not deny the evidence of her own eyes as Nodoka returned to the room, carrying the tea setting on a tray. It could be no one else, this was her mother. Her vision swam with tears, and she felt as if her world had shattered. Her mother, that she remembered telling him as a little boy that he would always be her little Ranma no matter what, was now telling her that she would kill him if he wasn't manly. One of the two pillars of support she had been depending on since Princess Serenity's memories awoke had just crumbled, what about the other? Would Queen Serenity have accepted her like this, as neither truly a man nor truly a girl, some kind of sideshow freak? Could Queen Serenity have loved her like this?

"Young lady, it is not seemly to-ooooff!" The Saotome matron tripped, and the contents of the tray went flying through the air. One cup overturned its contents and splashed them harmlessly on the ground, but the other held its contents, and seemed to have only one target. Ranma received a faceful of hot tea water, and discovered to both his relief and his horror that his curse was still in full effect.

Nodoka stared up at him from the floor where she had fallen. "Ran- Ranma? Wild Horse, is that you?"

"No! Stay away from me! I don't want to die! Stay away!" Ranma screamed, and ran from the living room, stumbling out of the house near blinded by the tea and her own tears.

Nodoka stared blankly at where the boy had sat. She had just seen her son, but he had been a girl before changing into himself. It was more believable that she was having a powerful delusion. Or she was dreaming, having a nightmare. It was certainly nightmare material, seeing her son in such a way that would force her to kill him. She decided she must be asleep. If she was asleep, she must be in bed. She wandered to the master bedroom and laid down. She would lay here until the nightmare went away, and was just another memory of a bad dream.

* * *

At the Aino residence, Minako was just getting ready for bed. She gave a worried look over to where Luna was laying in Artemis' bed. She was still unresponsive, but Artemis had assured her that Luna would recover soon. "I trust Ami's diagnosis," he had said. "We mau are made of tougher stuff than normal cats, she'll recover soon enough." For Ranma's sake, she hoped he was right.

She heard a knocking at the door, and her mother answered. "May I help y- Oh dear, you're soaking wet! What is a young girl like you doing out this late, and in this weather?"

"Can I see Minako? Please?" Was that Ranma? She ran to the door, where her mother was just starting to turn Ranma away.

"Ranma, are you alright? You're a mess!" she exclaimed when she saw the state Ranma was in. The redhead didn't give her a chance to say anything else. Ranma rushed past Minako's mother, ignoring her shocked yell, and grabbed on to Minako. Minako was too surprised to react, until she felt Ranma shaking and heard her sobs. She wrapped her arms around the redhead, and that only seemed to cause Ranma to further break down. She cried into Minako's shoulder in great heaving sobs.

Minako gave her mother a combination of apologetic and pleading looks, and her mother sighed. "I'll get your father to bring a futon to your room," she said.

Minako gave her mother a look of gratitude, and led Ranma to her room, giving what she hoped were comforting and reassuring words.

* * *

Later, Minako and her mother were sitting in their living room, discussing their guest.

"Do you have any idea what might have happened?" Mrs. Aino asked her daughter.

"No, mom. She was fine when I saw her last. She said she had something to do... I guess it didn't turn out well," answered Minako. She had, reluctantly, left Ranma's side when the redhead had finally exhausted herself crying and fallen asleep. She bit her lower lip, it was torturing her to see Ranma like this. Though she had just met her only hours ago, this was her sister that was crying her heart out.

"And you're sure she's homeless?" asked the elder Aino.

"Well, she did say she's been on a training journey for ten years, and was separated from her father. But I don't know what could have happened to do this to her. She seemed a little troubled when she left the Hikawa shrine, but nothing like this!"

The gears turned in Mrs. Aino's head. Here was a girl that was around her own daughter's age, who was 14, after having been on a decade long training trip. She wanted to smack the idiot of a father that thought it would be a good idea to take his daughter on such a journey, but this was beside the point. The girl had been separated from her mother since she was around four, and had finally returned home. The first thing a girl would want to do after ten years of separation would be to reconnect with her mother.

The girl had had something important to do after bumping into and befriending her daughter, and after doing said important thing the girl was a broken down wreck. She came to the logical conclusion. "Oh, dear. I think that girl just found out her mother is dead."

Minako gasped, and then frowned in the direction of her room, where Ranma was sleeping. It was a possibility, but the feeling she got from Ranma was different. It felt like the girl had just had her heart broken into pieces.

"That poor girl," her mother continued. "You tell her she's welcome to stay with us as long as it takes for her to find her father. You don't mind sharing your room with her, do you?"

Minako shook her head. "I don't mind at all," she said. It would give her plenty of time to be with her Silver Millennium sister.

* * *

"I don't know why the Queen continues to put up with your childish antics, Princess Serenity," said Venus Guardian, scolding her. "I'm playing babysitter, once again, after you go haring off on your own down to Earth where you know you're forbidden to go. If I were the Queen, I would disown such a disobedient, disrespectful brat."

She turned to see her mother standing before her, not even a glimmer of recognition in her eyes. "Mother, please don't disown me. I'll be a good child from now on, I'll be obedient. Just please don't make me stop being your child."

Queen Serenity looked her over disdainfully. "You are no child of mine. I have no sons."

"No sons? But I'm your daughter!" she said, but something was off. Her voice was rough, her manner of speech uncultured. She looked down at herself, and saw that her body was that of a man, and he was still wearing the princess gown; he was a man in a dress.

"No! I can't be a man," he screamed, denying the evidence of his own eyes.

"Ranma, you are no man," said a different voice, and he looked up to see Nodoka, holding the Saotome Honor Blade ready to attack him. "You have failed to grow up to be a man amongst men, and the Saotome Honor Blade demands your blood."

"Mom! It ain't what ya think," he said, but he saw the cold glint of steel even in his mothers eyes. He looked down and saw that he was standing on a huge copy of the contract stating he was to be a man amongst men, a contract he had clearly violated. She swung the blade in a lazy arc, and the contract beneath his feet ripped open. He fell, screaming, into the rapidly growing hole, where dozens upon dozens of pairs of eyes were opening and focusing on him, waiting for him to come to them. They reached out with their claws and fangs, the vicious little devils surrounding him, clawing and biting...

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she yelled out a scream of pure terror and anguish, sitting up in an unfamiliar bed. She tried to calm her heart. It had been a dream. Just a bad dream. But it had felt so real. She sobbed into her hands as the lights in the room came on.

"Ranma, are you okay?" asked Minako. But Ranma had broken down into sobs, and all she could do was hold Ranma as she cried. The redhead clung to her like a lifeline, babbling incoherently as she cried.

"Minako, what was that? I just about had a heart atta-" the elder Aino stated as she opened the door to Minako's room, but stopped when she saw the scene; Minako holding another girl who was clinging to her and crying. She gave the redheaded girl a look of pity, then closed the door. "It's alright, they're fine for now," Minako heard the statement coming through the door. She heard a phone ring from further in the house, and wondered if Ranma's scream had woken the whole neighborhood.

Minako blinked tears from her eyes as she held Ranma. It was breaking Minako's heart to see her sister like this. She couldn't stand to let her sister suffer like this anymore. "Pluto," she said softly to the empty air.

Sailor Pluto appeared in the room. She took one look at the scene, Minako holding a crying and incoherent Ranma, and gasped. "What happened?" she asked.

"I don't know. That's what I want you to find out. I want to know what did this to Princess Serenity. Everything you can find out," said Minako.

"Princess Venus, I hardly think this is an appropriate use fo-"

"NOW, Princess Pluto. I will NOT see my little sister suffer like this. You WILL help me help her," said Minako, and though her words were soft enough to avoid anyone outside the room hearing them, her voice held the tone of command.

Pluto was going to protest once again, but she saw the fire in Minako's eyes. She remembered seeing the same look in Princess Venus' eyes many times in the Silver Millennium, the look that none of the other Princesses save for Princess Serenity herself had ever stared down. There was no use arguing, Princess Venus had decided what she wanted, and she was going to get it. "As you wish," she said, and disappeared back to the gates.

Minako held her incoherently crying sister to her, and felt like crying herself. "Ssh, it'll be alright, Flower-chan. I'll do everything I can to help."

She stared into the space that Pluto had vacated. "Everything."

* * *

Sailor Pluto gave an uneasy look toward the space-time door, making sure that it wasn't opening. The last time the door had opened, she had nightmares for weeks of seeing herself dissolve, right down to her Star Seed. She didn't want to see anything like that ever again, future be damned. The gates were reassuringly dark, showing no signs of wanting to open. She gave a somewhat relieved sigh, before contemplating her current task.

Something had happened to Princess Serenity, and Princess Venus wanted to know what it was. She had been asked... no, commanded to use her past sight to find out. She briefly thought about disobeying. Venus may be the acting leader, but they were all princesses and equals. A possible exception would be Princess Serenity; she was the heir to the entire Moon Kingdom after all, and held a slightly higher position in the hierarchy than the rest of them did.

After some thought, she decided that refusing Venus in this would be more trouble than it was worth. Venus would never let her hear the end of it for refusing to help Princess Serenity. The two of them had loved each other like sisters in the Silver Millennium, and it was clear that the relationship persisted through their reincarnations.

Sighing, she summoned a device from a subspace pocket and looked at it, trying to determine if the millenia of neglect had caused it any harm. It was a prototype device, created near the end of the Silver Millennium. This Projected Line Of Thought device would allow her to store images captured from her view of the past, and project them into the air where the other senshi would be able to see them. To test it to see if it still worked, she cast her view back to the fight between Sailor Moon and the youma. Focusing on the moment of Sailor Moon delivering a gravity-assisted two handed spank to the youma, she pressed the capture button on the Device. The viewscreen on the device now showed the scene she had just been focusing on. Pressing another button switched the device to projector mode, and a 3d holographic image of the scene sprang from the device. She smirked as she looked at it, and pressed another button to save the scene into her favorites folder.

She tried not to think of the other scenes that were stored in the device. Even after millennia, it was still too painful to revisit memories of herself and Queen Serenity. She turned her focus back to the task at hand.

* * *

Hours later, Sailor Pluto stood staring into the void outside the gates of time. Her legs were still shaky, and there were spots on the 'ground' outside the bubble of reality where her vomit had not quite finished dissolving into the void.

It was a case of a why leading to why leading to why. Trying to figure out why the girl had had a nervous breakdown had led to the discovery of the girl's Jusenkyo curse, and that she had been born a boy. Trying to discover why she had a Jusenkyo curse had led to the discovery of the ten year training journey. Some of the things she saw Ranma experience on the journey had been difficult to watch, and then there was the neko-ken training... She wanted to track down that idiot of a father that had put his own child through such a traumatic experience, and give him a Dead Scream point plank to the chest, but she decided that any such retribution was by rights Ranma's to give.

She had the information now that Venus had asked for, but she could not figure out how to interpret it. Obviously, Ranma's meeting with her mother had upset her, but if that was all there was to it then Ranma would not have woken up the neighborhood in the middle of the night, screaming from her nightmare. She wished she could peer into Ranma's dreams and find out what she had seen, but that was beyond her powers. She pondered on what to tell Princess Venus. The fact that Princess Serenity had been born a boy in this life was disturbing in its own right, but from what she could tell so far, after an initial clash of personality, Serenity's personality was showing through strongly. She wondered how much of that was due to something Luna had done at the moment of conflict. In any case, she would keep Ranma's birth gender in confidence, until she decided to tell Princess Venus on her own.

There was still the question of how Princess Serenity had been reincarnated as a boy, and what Jusenkyo had to do with it. It was obvious from watching the boy Ranma had been that there had been none of Serenity's influence in his personality until he fell in the spring. From that point, she had seen Serenity creeping into Ranma's personality, little by little, until the girl's memories had awoken fully just before she transformed the first time. But Serenity should have been showing in Ranma's personality from the time of his birth, even if he was a boy. It was as if Ranma had not been Serenity's reincarnation until he fell into the Jusenkyo pool.

Something strange was going on, and it had something to do with that Jusenkyo pool. Pluto doubted that it was just the pool itself; if it was just the pool then all the animals that the local tribes dunked in it, all the travelers that ended up falling in it, everything that had ever come in contact with it would be reincarnations of Princess Serenity. There were too many questions, and not enough information to even guess at the answers. Even trying to think about it was giving Pluto a headache. It just didn't make sense.

* * *

Ranma lay on the futon, staring up at the ceiling of the room she was sharing with Minako. After the shock and terror inspired by her nightmare had worn off, she had reassured Minako she was alright, apologized to the Aino family, and returned to bed. Sleep would not return to her, though, so she stared at the ceiling, thinking about the latest bit of chaos that had been thrown into her life.

For the most part she was used to the usual chaos that travelling with her father seemed to attract, though most of that chaos was caused by her father himself when he stole something or managed to insult someone important. Come to think of it, though, that was most of the time. She remembered when they had stopped in an amazon village, shortly after she had been cursed. Her father had decided that the feast would make a good contest, to see which of them could eat more and faster. Usually she would have had no problems accepting his challenge, but this time she couldn't bring herself to care and shrugged off the challenge. This didn't stop her father from stuffing his face with most of the feast, though, and this of course offended the amazon champion that the feast was supposed to be a prize for. They caught him, and his transformation into a panda and innocent act had not fooled them for a moment. It would doubtless have never fooled them even if he had shown up as a panda; with as close as the amazon tribe was to the Jusenkyo springs they no doubt had full knowledge of them.

Upon further thought, that was the first time Genma had brought something down on himself that she hadn't managed to get caught up in. She'd been too preoccupied by the distant feeling of need to pay much attention at the time; a persistant pull and sense that someone needed her somewhere had occupied much of her thoughts and prevented her from focusing on the art as much as her father had wanted her to. He had grumbled at her for days after the amazons had beat the living daylights out of him for stealing their food, and even after he got over that he still grumbled at her for her loss of focus.

This new chaos in her life, she had no idea who to blame for. She had memories of having been a girl in her past life, a princess no less. She also had proof, in the form of the Mau she had been reunited with and the girl sleeping in the bed next to her own futon, that those memories were real. She had nothing but fond memories in the Silver Millennium of spending time with her big sister, Princess Venus. Of course, they hadn't really been sisters by blood, but they had been close enough that it was a meaningless distinction. She knew that it had been a past life, that both of them had led very different lives in their current incarnations, but that didn't seem to really matter at all. In her heart, she still loved her big sister Heart-chan. All of this proved that she was supposed to be some girly princess, but could she really be that girl? It was certainly an attractive enough prospect, to give in and be that happy little girly girl. She'd had the love of her mother, the love of her sister, and the friendship of all the other 8 princesses. But that part of her that was still Ranma held back from taking that plunge.

She was supposed to be a man, and according to the contract her mother had shown her, a man among men. All her life, she had been trained in the Anything Goes style of martial arts. From the time she was around 4, until not even a full day ago, she had been on a training journey to improve herself and make herself stronger. She had trained all over China, learning from diverse masters of obscure martial arts, taking the best parts of their styles and making them her own. She took pride in herself in being the best, and even her own father could no longer beat her in a straight up fight; her father, who was a master of the Anything Goes school of martial arts. What did that make her now? A master as well? A grandmaster? She shook her head slightly at that thought. Beating a master did not make one a grandmaster, and even being granted mastership required a grandmaster's word. So who was the current grandmaster of the Anything Goes school? Could she beat him as well, and become a grandmaster herself? Would that be manly enough that, despite her current gender, she could be considered a man among men, and fulfill the contract? Did she even really want to try to fulfill the contract? Her mother...

Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought about her mother. She had seemed so lonely; it had nearly broken her heart just to feel that intense atmosphere of loneliness that permeated the house. Her mother had waited for her, every day since the day her father had taken her away ten years ago. The entire time, her mother had been waiting for her to return. Her mother, who she remembered promising her that she would always be her little Ranma...

She wiped some tears from her face and sniffled. Some promise. It was broken the very next day, when that damn contract was written up. Or even worse, if that contract had already been written, then the promise was void before it had even been given. She wasn't sure which possibility disturbed her more.

What was she? That was the question she needed answered most. She was born a boy and raised to be a man among men, but her past life was a girl and raised to be a lady. Her curse kept her somewhere in between, neither truly a boy nor truly a girl. Could she choose what she wanted to be? If so, then what did she want? She remembered that as a girl, she had hated fighting, she hated violence. If she fully accepted that side of her, would she give up fighting? But in her current life, fighting was a big part of who she was. On the other hand, if she denied that part of her, and fully accepted the man she was in this life, would she have to forget about Luna? The other Princesses? But clearly they needed her help, she couldn't just turn her back on them. But they needed her to fight, and if she accepted the girl she had been she would hate fighting, right?

She couldn't be the man she had been, because to do so meant turning her back on her friends, her sister, that she loved from her past life. She couldn't be the princess of her past life, because to do so would be to turn her back on everything that made her who she was in this life. So what was she? Who was she now?

Who could she turn to help her figure this out? Queen Serenity was out, unless she found someone that could talk to people that had long been dead. Her mother was out, thanks to that damn contract. She didn't know how to explain things to Minako. How could she even begin? 'Hey Minako, I know you thought I was a girl when we slept together, but I'm really a guy. But it's okay, because I'm supposed to be a girl. I think.' She'd be lucky if Minako ever wanted to see her again after that. The thought of her sister never wanting to see her again nearly brought Ranma to tears by itself. The other princesses were out, because she knew things would get back to Minako sooner or later. Maybe Pluto? She had to give a derisive snort at that thought. Pluto probably already knew everything, and if she didn't then even giving her a reason to investigate would mean she'd know everything. She had been meddlesome even in the Silver Millennium, and she could only imagine what the current incarnation of Pluto was like. So who was left? Luna? Artemis? Would they even understand?

She continued to stare up at the ceiling above her futon, but even after the hours she spent looking, she could find no answers there before she finally drifted off to slumber.

* * *

AN: Well, here it is. Chapter 3 of Millennial panic. I've had this ready to go for a while now, but at the point I left the chapter off, it didn't feel quite right. I delayed uploading it here because I didn't feel like chapter 3 could stand on its own. Then I looked at chapter 4, and found a place early in the chapter that could be used as a stopping point. Of course, at such an early point in the chapter it would leave chapter 4 too short, but it could be added to the end of chapter 3 to strengthen it. After doing so, I feel a lot better about Chapter 3's ability to stand on its own. After stealing around 2000 words from chapter 4, this puts chapter 3 at a little over 7000 words, the longest chapter so far.

To those guests that keep posting profane and insulting reviews, stop it. If you were to post an honest review about why you don't like the story, then perhaps the review would pass moderation. Cursing me out because you don't like how I characterized your favorite characters is not constructive criticism, and neither is cursing me out because your previous "reviews" didn't pass moderation. Such reviews would be reported if you posted them under your ff dot net handle, but I suppose you already knew that, hence why you hide behind an anonymous guest tag. At this point, I'd rather go back to not allowing guest reviews at all, but for some stupid reason that's no longer an option.

To everyone that posted concerns about how I am characterizing Ranma in the previous chapters, including the 2 or 3 guests whose reviews did not pass moderation (language, people...), keep in mind first that this is not your usual Ranma. This is a Ranma who is dealing with a lifetime of new memories shoved into his head, and she doesn't know how to deal with. No, I'm not going to turn Ranma into a superpowered Usagi clone. On the other hand, Ranma isn't going to get away without some changes to her personality. In the end, I hope to have Ranma portrayed as something of a blend of the two personalities, but it's not going to happen overnight, and getting there is half the fun. You can expect some angst along the way, as well.

To everyone else, thank you for all your reviews. I'm amazed, and a little flattered, at the reaction to the story so far. This story has seen more reviews and alerts in the little more than a week it's been up than my other story, Uzumaki Noriko, saw in the entire 3 years it's been up on ff dot net. I do still have plans for Uzumaki Noriko, but they will be on hold at least until I run out of steam on this story, which probably won't be happening soon. See my profile for more information.


	5. Chapter 4

Elsewhere, Cologne sat in her chamber, meditating on the strange event that had happened earlier that day. It had been just before dinner when she felt a wave of magic wash over the village, and the moment the wave hit all sound had stopped. She had had just enough time to become worried at what the silence might herald, when she heard a voice penetrate the silence. When she heard the voice she felt a new energy, one that came from not only the voice itself, but also herself and everyone around her. The energy clashed with the magic that brought the silence, clearing the magic from the air. The energy then left, heading toward the west for a purpose only it seemed to know, and as the energy left so did the silence.

The strangest part of the event was the aftermath. After the event none of the younger warriors remembered anything happening, and older warriors only had a vague recollection. Only the amazon elders or those training to become elders remembered the voice, and only the elders themselves felt the energies that had conflicted during the event. Regardless of whether they remembered the event or not, everyone seemed in slightly higher spirits afterward.

She was the Elder of Lore, keeper of the Joketsuzoku magic and artifacts, and the records pertaining to such. As these energies had seemed magical in nature, the other elders had turned to her for her expertise in such matters. The only problem was that she had no idea what she was dealing with. The only thing that was clear about the event was that there were two forces at work, one that had caused the silence, and one that had dispersed it. The two energies at work had been immensely powerful, and she wouldn't be surprised if she found out that it had been a global event. Beyond that, the energies were so different from anything else she had felt that she couldn't even begin to identify them.

There was also nothing in any of the records she had searched on anything that could have caused the event. As far as she knew, as far as the records were concerned, no force of this world could have caused such an event. So what had caused the event? There was no doubt in her mind that it had actually happened, not with other elders as witness to the event. But nothing on earth could have caused it.

No force of THIS world. Nothing on EARTH.

Her eyes snapped open as she came to that conclusion, and she looked toward the cache of odd magical artifacts she kept. There were artifacts that did not have any particular function, but were oddities for one reason or another. One artifact in particular was a rock she had found in her travels. The rock did not do anything special, but was an oddity she kept simply because of what it was. She was certain the rock was not natural to Earth. The energy the rock gave off was... different.

She retrieved the rock from the cache and set it down in front of her. Looking at the rock, it didn't look any different from any other normal rock, but it still stood out in her senses. She set a normal rock beside it, and set a small magic bowl next to that, and probed all three with her senses. The normal rock didn't register at all as having magic to her senses, unless she looked fairly deeply to sense out the trace amount of magic in it. The bowl had a lot of magic in it, and after sensing out the magic in the bowl, she had a hard time sensing out the trace amount of magic in the normal rock again. The trace amount of magic in the other rock, though, drew her senses like a beacon. It wasn't that there was a lot of magic in the rock. In fact, the rock had no more magic in it than the other rock sitting next to it. But the magic in the rock had a way of standing out.

Cologne sat back and pondered what she knew about magic. Everything on Earth, living or not, has a certain amount of energy. All living things produce ki, or life energy, but even inanimate objects are suffused with earth energy, or magic. Normally, the amount of magic contained within something like a rock is unnoticeable, blending into the background of everything else. Objects are normally only noticeable as having magic in them if they have a large amount. It's like looking at a wall of lit light bulbs; unless one of the bulbs is particularly bright, it's not going to stand out.

But this rock is different. It's not that it has any more magic than any other rock, but on the same wall of lit light bulbs where every light bulb is the same brightness, this rock's 'light bulb' is green, and all the rest are white. The rock stands out because the magic in the rock has a different feel to it than your everyday rock. Cologne was certain that this rock was a meteorite that originated from another planet.

The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that the magic from the earlier event did not belong on Earth. That magic had had the same alien feel to it that the rock before her has. It had stood out in her senses not just because it had been so powerful; both magics involved in the event had been immensely powerful and stood out on their own just from that. But remembering how the energies had felt, she was sure they had also stood out because of the same quality the rock possessed; they were magics from another world.

She stood and picked up the rock, and headed toward the Elder Council hut. The other elders would be there, she had kept them waiting while she tried to identify the energies behind the event. As she took the short walk from her own hut to the Council hut, her great-granddaughter, Shampoo, ran up to her. {Great-Grandmother! The other elders sent me for you, they think you're wasting their time making them wait,} she said in Mandarin.

{Some of them are older than I. One might think that, even after a few hundred years, some people will never learn patience. Walk with me, they can wait a little longer,} Cologne replied.

{Can you tell me what's going on? Everyone is wondering why the Elders started asking strange questions, and then are suddenly holding an emergency council meeting. Nobody that knows anything will say anything about it,} Shampoo pouted.

'Interesting, she doesn't remember the event. Maybe I need to step up her training, if she is to one day become an elder,' thought Cologne. {As I said, some people will never learn patience,} she chided. {You'll know when we have decided what should be made known. By the way, great-granddaughter, what do you think of this rock?}

Shampoo looked at the rock and shrugged. {It's just a rock. What's so special abou-,} she said, and suddenly stopped, taking another look at the rock.

{Yes? What is it?} Cologne asked.

{It's nothing. That rock reminded me of someone. Remember on the day I won the village championship for my age group? The outsider man with the panda curse that ate my prize...} Shampoo started, then broke off, somewhat angrily. The man had eaten her prize, her ENTIRE prize, and then got away with only a light beating. She felt her vengeance had been denied, but the man was long gone.

{Yes, he got away before we could lock him in his panda form as punishment. This rock reminds you of him?}

{No, it reminds me of the other outsider that was here on the same day. That distracted girl, that came and left with the panda cursed man. Always looking east, not paying much attention to the fights. It's strange, but she felt different. That rock feels different too, it reminds me of her,} Shampoo explained.

Cologne thought back to that day, and realized she had met the girl. The girl had stood out to her for some reason, so she had visited with the girl and had quite a pleasant talk with her. She had thought at the time that the girl stood out to her because she was an outsider, but now she realized that the girl had the same type of magic that was in the rock she held, and that had been present in the event. {Thank you, child. You've been most helpful. Now run along and let the other elders know I will be with them shortly.}

As Shampoo ran ahead to the Council hut, Cologne thought about this turn of events. She had one possible lead on the source of the event, but she didn't know if the girl had been responsible for the silence, or for the voice, assuming she had been involved in the event at all. The council would need more information before they could really assess the threat this magic posed, and the answers would lie in the destination the outsider girl had given her: Japan.

* * *

Ranma awoke, and fought a moment of disorientation. Waking up in a strange place was nothing new to her, considering she had been traveling with her father for the last decade, and rarely stayed in the same place for very long. The disorientation was instead caused by the fact that it was early afternoon, if the direction the sun was coming in the single bedroom window was any indication, and she had neither been attacked or had water thrown on her to wake her up, nor had any of her attendants come to wake her up and help her dress. She shook her head to clear the cobwebs, and remembered she was not currently traveling with her father, and she didn't have attendants in this life.

She looked around the room she had been sleeping in, and noticed details that had been lost on her when she had been brought in last night. It was very much a girl's room, everything sorted and stacked neatly, and decorated with posters of boy idols and cute cartoon characters. She puzzled over the 'Friendship is Magic' poster for a few moments, before deciding that Minako must just like ponies. She looked over at Artemis' bed, noting it to be empty.

She stood up, and noticed herself in the mirror. Her long red hair was an absolute mess, and- what the HELL was she wearing?! It was cute, it was frilly, it was PINK. It was a girl's nightdress. How had they managed to coax her into this? Remembering the previous night, her own clothes must have been soaked through. It would not have been good for her to sleep in her wet clothes, but did they have to dress her up in something so girly?

She experienced a wave of vertigo as mental dissonance hit her, the side of her that had been Princess Serenity and thought that the dress was cute and appropriate if not a little bit plain for her, warring with the side of her that had been Ranma and thought that it was too girly to be seen in. In the end, she decided that the nightdress wasn't so bad, but she would have to get her own clothes back as soon as possible.

She was alerted to someone entering by the sound of the doorknob. Minako's mother entered the room, carrying Luna and flanked by Artemis. "Feeling better now?" she asked.

"A little. Sorry for intruding on your home, Mrs. Aino," Ranma said, as Artemis jumped up and sat next to her on the futon.

"Oh, nonsense. I couldn't in good conscience leave a girl your age alone to sleep on the streets, especially in weather like we had last night," Mrs. Aino replied. "You're welcome to stay with us as long as you need to. I'm sorry about your mother," she said.

Ranma froze. "My mother?" she asked. What did Mrs. Aino know about what happened? Did she know her mom?

"Yes, I'm assuming you just found out last night. She's gone, isn't she? That's why you were so broken up when you got here last night, your mother passed away?"

Ranma shook her head, and relaxed slightly. Mrs. Aino didn't know about her mother, or the contract. "Not exactly. She's still around," she replied, then paused, trying to decide how much she should tell Mrs. Aino. She settled on just saying, "I just can't see her anymore."

Mrs. Aino looked over Ranma, trying to get the new information to fit with the pieces of the puzzle she already had. It was obvious Ranma had sought out her mother the previous night, and she had assumed Ranma was heartbroken because her mother was dead. The alternative was not a pleasant thought, but it was looking like that unpleasant alternative was the truth. Ranma's mother, after 10 years of separation, had rejected her. She frowned at the realization. "Your mother is a fool if she doesn't want to see you. Who wouldn't want to have such a cute and friendly girl as you as their daughter?" she said.

Ranma squirmed uncomfortably. It was closer to the truth, yet still not quite right. But she decided that it was a safe enough assumption to allow Mrs. Aino to keep. "I guess I'm just not what she wanted," she said.

Luna was squirming around in Mrs. Aino's arms, and Mrs Aino let her down. As soon as she was free, she jumped up into Ranma's lap and started butting her head into Ranma's hand. "Well, it looks like someone wants you, at least," said Mrs. Aino, smiling at Luna's antics. Ranma gave a weak smile and gave Luna a pet. "Your clothes are just about ready to come out of the wash. They should be ready for you by the time you finish taking a bath," she said, and left Ranma alone with the two Mau.

Ranma picked up Luna and gave her a hug. "Are you feeling better now, Luna?" she asked.

"I'm still pretty exhausted, but I should be okay with some rest. I'm just happy I finally found you," said Luna.

"We should be asking you the same thing," said Artemis. "What happened last night? I mean, what really happened, not the story you're telling the Ainos."

Ranma looked at Artemis, and tried to decide what she could tell him. "Minako's not around, is she?" she asked.

"It's a school day, she should be at school for another few hours," Artemis replied. "Keeping private matters in confidence was part of my job in the Silver Millennium, aside from looking after Princess Venus. So whatever you have to say that you don't seem to want Minako to know will go no further than me."

Ranma looked over Artemis, and had to stifle a laugh. He was as sharp as he had ever been in the Silver Millennium, and had correctly guessed why she had hesitated to say anything to him. "Alright. I'll tell you what really happened, but it's a long story. You're not going to believe some of it, but I promise it's all true. It all started when I was a four year old boy..."

* * *

Some time later, she ended her story with the mau, finishing with her arrival at the Ainos. She had not gone into much detail about the training trip, skipping over much of the time she had spent with her father up until Jusenkyo to keep the story short. She explained about the curse, how she had felt when she was a girl, her father's attitudes towards girls, the problems she had had accepting the memories as her own, and her mother and the contract.

Luna and Artemis had stayed quiet through much of the story and explanation, and Luna finally spoke up after Ranma finished. "Wow. This explains so much," she said. "So what are you planning to do now?"

"I don't know," Ranma said. "I can't go back to my mom, and I don't know if I want to go back to pops," she said. "If I do go back to him, I'm probably going to end up engaged to one of those Tendo girls. With my luck, it'll be the youngest one, the one that hates me.'

"Also, right now I'm not exactly sure what I am. I mean, am I a guy that has memories of having been a princess, or am I a princess that was born a guy?"

Artemis, who had been quiet throughout Ranma's telling of his life story, spoke up. "What do you think you are? What do you want to be?" he asked.

Ranma looked at Artemis, and thought about that for a minute. Her life as a guy had rarely been happy. She liked the Art, but that was pretty much all there was to her life as a guy. She hadn't been allowed to form any lasting friendships. She had had to say goodbye to every friend she ever made. She didn't even know her mother, and even worse, if her mother knew who she was, she'd kill her. On the other hand, her memories of her past life as a princess had been happy. She'd had a mother that loved her, friendships with the other eight princesses, and the love of her sister in all but blood, Princess Venus.

It would be so easy to give in and live as that happy princess, but she held back. "I don't know, Artemis. I'm afraid to answer that. I'm afraid because it would be too easy to give up on my current life. It would be too easy to just be that princess I remember being. I'm afraid, because if I gave in and let myself just be that girl, I'm afraid I wouldn't be me anymore." Some part of her was screaming at her to keep quiet, that Ranma Saotome wasn't afraid of anything. Another part of her insisted that the mau could be trusted, that she didn't have to keep denying it, even to herself. The mental dissonance was starting to give her a headache.

"You don't have to do anything like that. The memories of your past life are yours by rights, but that doesn't mean you have to give up anything for them," Artemis replied.

"You don't understand," Ranma said, tears starting to form in her eyes. "I was happy back then. I was happy as a princess. I was happier than I've ever been in this life. The only time I've ever truly been happy in this life was when I practiced the Art." That part of her screaming at her to be quiet started to insist that she stop crying, men don't cry. Another part of her reassured her that it was okay to let it out.

"Well, you don't have to be one or the other, Ranma," said Artemis. "Why can't you be both?"

"Because we're different. I mean, I'm different. I mean..." Ranma floundered, trying to figure out what she was trying to say. "I don't know what I mean. I'm her, and she's me, and we're the same person, but we're different."

Artemis thought about that for a moment. "I can't pretend I really understand. But from what I can tell, your current life is so different from your past life that you don't think you can be either one without denying the other."

Ranma blinked, and slowly nodded. That summed it up quite nicely.

"Well, why not just keep the best of both lives?" Luna asked. "Not everyone can say they have the experience from two completely different lives to draw on. You can take the best parts of yourself from both lives and be a you that's better than either."

Ranma thought about that, but was interrupted before she could come up with any kind of response. "Ranma? Are you going to take a bath?" came Mrs. Aino's voice from the other side of the door.

"Coming," said Ranma. Mrs. Aino's interruption prevented her from asking the next question she needed answered, but she didn't think either of the mau had the answer. How could she even begin to decide which parts of herself were the best parts?

* * *

Mrs. Aino had heard Ranma talking to Artemis, like Minako had a habit of doing when she thought she wasn't listening. She had known for a long time now that Artemis could talk, though he only did so when he and Minako thought they were alone. She was surprised when she heard Luna talking as well, but considering that Artemis seemed to be willing to talk to Ranma, she should have guessed that Ranma would be like her daughter and have her own talking cat.

She knew that her daughter was one of the Senshi, and she had her guesses as to which one. She worried about her daughter, but from eavesdropping on some of the girl's conversations with Artemis she knew that there was nothing that could be done about the danger. Since she first heard Minako talking to Artemis she had developed a habit of eavesdropping on them. Her daughter was protecting humanity from threats that nobody else could deal with, and it scared her to death to think that one day she might not come home. So she listened in on her conversations with her cat, her advisor, hoping to learn anything she could use to help her daughter save the world. She suspected that her daughter's friends were all Senshi as well.

She figured this new girl also must be one of the Senshi, and from what she had just overheard, she was having an identity crisis. The story was beyond unbelievable... but then, talking cats and magical girls was pretty unbelievable as well, and she had both living under her roof before Ranma even came along. Gender changing curses didn't seem so far-fetched when put under that light.

She decided she would not confront Ranma about her birth gender until she had resolved her identity crisis. The girl needed support, and there was just something about Ranma that made her think the girl spending time with Minako would be good for both of them. If Ranma did decide that she was going to be a man... well, she would cross that bridge when she came to it.

There was also the matter of the girl's mother. It made her shudder to think of who might be capable of enforcing such a contract, but she suspected there was more to the story than even the girl herself knew. Picking up the phone, she dialed the number of one of her close friends. The woman was a horrible gossip, but she knew how to find information. "Hello, Ikuko? Yes, I'm doing well. ...No, I don't think Usagi coming over for a sleepover would be a good idea right now. ...No, it doesn't have anything to do with how my daughter excludes yours from her activities. ...What? How do you know about that already? Yes, there was another girl here overnight, but- ...What? No, we didn't do anything to her. She had a nightmare. ...No ...No ...No! LISTEN! I need some information. I'm looking for a woman by the family name of Saotome, living alone. She should be about our age, living around Juuban. I need to know how to contact her. ...Wha- NO! How did you even come to that conclusion, anyway? ...Yes, fine, I'll buy a box of your daughter's girl scout cookies. I'll buy two boxes if you keep the fact I'm looking for Mrs. Saotome to yourself. ...No, I don't think Minako would be interested in joining. Isn't she a little old, anyway? ...No, I don't mean too old for girl scouts, I mean too old to join..."

* * *

Much later, Mrs. Aino finally set down the phone. She heaved a sigh at the conversational whirlwind she just experienced. Dealing with Mrs. Tsukino was the best way to get information, but the woman could be exasperating at times. Mentally, she went back over the conversation she just had, trying to decide what kind of rumors she could expect to start going around about herself.

Ranma had finished her bath, and then returned to Minako's room, dressed in the chinese silks she had arrived in. Mrs. Aino couldn't hear Ranma talking to either of the cats, so she peeked in to Minako's room to see what Ranma was up to.

What Ranma was doing could only be described as moping. She was staring off out the window, petting Luna who was sitting in her lap. This wouldn't do. "Ranma? It's just about time for Minako to get out of school, do you want to come with me to pick her up?" Truth be told, she didn't usually pick Minako up at school; her daughter usually walked home with her friends. Ranma didn't need to know that, this was more of an excuse to keep Ranma from depressing herself, alone.

Ranma nodded, stood, and headed for the door. As she headed out, she heard a short hiss, and the sound of an impact. Turning to look, she saw Luna with her fur sticking up, and a furious look in her eyes. Artemis was just getting up after Luna had apparently just swatted him down. Luna turned with a huff and settled back into the mau bed.

Artemis ran after Ranma. After checking to see if anyone was around that could hear him, he said, "I'm coming with you," and jumped up into Ranma's arms.

Little details about the mau in her arms were trickling in from Ranma's past memory, and she grinned. "I take it Luna didn't like your idea of having fun while everyone else is out?"

Artemis stiffened in her arms. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said.

"Sure, sure, you little perv," Ranma said. Same old Artemis. She had almost been worried when she was talking to him earlier, he had almost seemed serious. "I wonder what would be left of you when we got back if I left you here alone with Luna..."

Artemis would have paled if it were possible for a white cat to do so.

* * *

High above, a man floated in the sky, unnoticed and unnoticeable, looking down at the city. If he were looking at just the right angle, he might have seen one redheaded girl in chinese silks who was carrying a white cat look up toward him in puzzlement, shrug, and hurry to climb into a small automobile being driven by an older lady. But he was not looking in that particular direction at that time, and so did not notice the event.

Instead, he was looking at the site of a battle, one which by all estimates should have either ended the Sailor Senshi's interference with the Dark Kingdom's plans, or brought in a surplus of life energy for him to use in fortifying the next youma to be sent against the Senshi. Neither had happened. The Senshi had defeated the youma. This was not entirely unexpected, nor was it a new occurrence. The problem was that he had received none of the life energy the youma had gathered before it perished.

He could sense the massive amount of energy released when the youma had died, but it was dispersed too thinly and it was too pure for him to gather. The energy was lost to him, and he had no answers as to how or why. So he scowled down at the battlefield which repair crews had already mostly restored, looking for answers and seeing none.

The Senshi had done something new, that much was certain. He decided that he needed to be present at the next battle so he could see what new strategy they have come up with and prepare a counter. With that resolution in mind, he vanished in a swirl of dark energy to oversee his next youma's attack.

* * *

Hotaru sighed as she sat in her class, watching the clock and waiting for the school day to end. It had not been an easy decision to make, but she had decided that she would talk to the Moon Princess after school, in defiance of Haruka and Michiru. She had helped them defeat the youma last night, she had even saved everyone that had been drained by the youma. She couldn't possibly be a bad person, right? But Michiru and Haruka had decided that since the girl was familiar with Pluto, she was bad news.

It didn't make sense to her. Neither Haruka and Michiru's vendetta against Pluto, nor their hatred of the Moon Princess who had literally saved the world last night made any sense at all. She had been so relieved when the Princess had stopped the Silence, stopped her from doing what she knew she had to do to prevent the world from falling to the Dark Kingdom. When the other senshi were falling, when all hope had seemed lost, the Moon Princess had appeared to return hope and save the world. It was like something out of a fantasy novel, that in their darkest hour a hero had appeared to save the day. She had even given them a chance to save the lives of the Dark Kingdom's victims. How could someone that had done so much for them in so little time be bad?

She glanced up at the clock, to see it tick over another minute. Two minutes until school ended. She sighed, once again thinking about how her own powers had almost destroyed the world last night. She had fought so hard, destroyed so many of those monsters with her power, all so that she wouldn't have to destroy everything, and in the end she had almost been forced to anyway. She remembered the meeting when Pluto had suggested that if they couldn't stop the Dark Kingdom, the only salvation for the world was its destruction. Pluto had revealed that the reason she had been awoken so early was so they could destroy the world, rather than let it fall into the hands of the Dark Kingdom.

She had disagreed with Pluto, strenuously. She had refused, over and over, to use her power to destroy the world if there was any hope of saving it. She had practiced in secret, exploring her powers and abilities to become as strong as she could, so she could save the world instead of having to destroy it. How many months ago had that been now? She had destroyed youma after youma, and at first she had saved lives. But as time went on, as the youma became stronger, she found that it wasn't enough. Lives were lost, youma often escaped or killed their victims before she could destroy them, and last night's youma had defeated the entire team before hope had reappeared in the form of the fiery haired princess.

She glanced up at the clock again, to see it tick over another minute. Two minutes until school ended. Her mind drifted back to the dog-like youma she had fought last night. She was certain she had nailed it with her Silence Glaive Surprise, twice, but each time she thought she hit it, it was as if it wasn't where she thought it had been. It moved so fast, it was as if it had already moved before she attacked...

She blinked at a sudden feeling of deja vu, and looked up at the clock. It ticked over a minute, to two minutes until school ended. An uneasy feeling settled over her, and she looked around. All of her classmates were sitting still in their seats. Too still. The teacher sitting at her desk was still and quiet as well. She looked at the clock to see it once again tick over to two minutes until school ended, and as it did she felt a slight tug at her life energy.

She froze. She knew a youma had to be at work here, and she thanked her lucky stars that even in civilian form, a Senshi had some resistance to a youma's energy drain. But if the youma noticed her before she had a chance to transform, she wouldn't stand a chance against it. Quietly, she reached into her pocket and thumbed the panic button on her communicator, then hit the button next to it to put it into silent mode. The last thing she needed was one of the other senshi calling her back, and alerting the youma. It might discern that she wasn't being drained, and either increase its efforts to overcome her resistance or just kill her. She hoped the others arrived soon.

* * *

The entire drive to Minako's school, Ranma couldn't stop thinking about what Luna had said. 'Keep the best parts of myself, huh', she thought to herself. What were the best parts of herself? She loved martial arts, but there was that part of her that hated to fight.

Or did she? She thought about it and reflected on that side of herself, and realized that wasn't it. Not quite. That part of her didn't really hate fighting; she hated hurting. She thought about martial arts from the perspective of the princess she had been. Princess Serenity didn't like to hurt other people. She didn't like hurtful words, and she certainly didn't like hurtful actions. Hurting other people, or seeing others get hurt, just made her feel sick inside. When she had started learning how to use the magic that was her birthright, it was not so she could fight; it was so she could protect. The martial artists' code required one to protect the weak, and those that couldn't protect themselves. Princess Serenity wholly approved.

As Mrs. Aino's car pulled in to the school's driveway, Ranma decided that perhaps accepting her past life might not change who she really is after all. Maybe she and Princess Serrenity weren't as different as she had thought. Maybe...

That line of thought cut off as an intense feeling of being needed overwhelmed her thoughts. The overwhelming, distracting need to be somewhere had been gone since she had arrived on the scene of the battle last night, and its absence had been a welcome relief... which made its return all the more distracting to her. She was needed somewhere. Heart-chan! Something must be happening to Minako!

"Mrs. Aino? Maybe I should go inside and look for her? You don't have to wait for us, I'll walk back with her," Ranma said.

Mrs. Aino thought about that a moment. "Alright. Don't stay out with her friends too late, then. I want her, and you, back by the time it gets dark. Okay?" she said.

"Me? But I'm not-" started Ranma

"Do you understand, young lady?" interrupted Mrs. Aino, in a tone that allowed no argument.

"Yes ma'am," Ranma reluctantly said, as she slid out of the car. The feeling was intensifying, she couldn't afford the time to argue.

"Good. I'll see you at home then," said Mrs. Aino, and drove away.

Ranma waited until she was just out of sight, before turning to Artemis, who had jumped out of the car when she had climbed out. "Come on, something's going on, I just know it. This way," she said, and started following her feeling.

"How do you know? Are you sure?" asked Artemis, running alongside her as she cut across the school courtyard.

"I just know. Heart-chan's in trouble, I have to help her!" said Ranma, and jumped over the schoolyard fence, using it as a springboard to get up to the roof of a nearby building.

"Wait! I can't follow you that way! Ranma!" said Artemis as Ranma started roofhopping. "Ranma, wait!" he yelled, jumping up onto the fence. The roof Ranma had hopped to was too far for him to jump to, and he didn't see any way to catch up with the rapidly retreating braid of pigtailed red hair which disappeared over the next rooftop. He sighed. "Same old Princess Serenity, forgetting everything else when Venus is concerned. And I don't know where she went."

"Ranma, you and Minako both better come back safe!" He shouted after her. "I'll never forgive you if she gets hurt! You hear me?!" Silence was the only answer he received, as he hopped down from the fence. Ranma would get an earful from him for leaving him behind, that was sure. For now, he had a long walk to Rei's shrine to make. The girls would meet him back there.

* * *

AN: Well, here we are 3 months later, and I've finally posted an update to my fic. At 6300 words, it actually surprised me how long this chapter turned out, when my target per chapter is closer to 4500 words. I haven't run out of steam on this; quite the opposite, in fact. Despite interference from Real Life, moving into a new apartment, and a full time college schedule, I've managed to keep writing off and on in my spare time. I'm going to try to release at least a chapter a month from here in, but no promises.

I've actually run into the problem of having too many ideas for this fic. I do have a general plot planned out, but there's a lot of room for play in the middle, and all my ideas seem to keep wanting to cram themselves into the same places. It just doesn't all fit.

A huge thank you goes out to the nice people at the fukufics forum, who have been nice enough to be something of a beta for this fic so far. Another huge thank you goes out to ~Aikoyu Saotome for agreeing to be a beta reader. You guys all rock.


	6. Chapter 5

On any other day, the elementary school yard would have been bustling with activity. Young students would be playing with their friends while waiting for their parents to come pick them up, or just simply passing through in the case of those that lived close enough to walk. On this day, however, the schoolyard was mostly abandoned.

MOSTLY abandoned, as there were nine figures present in one area of the schoolyard. That area was riddled with huge cracks and large holes where it seems explosions had ripped up the grass and soil. Not even the nearby school building was spared damage, as one windowed wall had been blown out. Most of the Sailor Senshi faced off against a youma on this impromptu battlefield.

"World Shaking!" Uranus' attack further ripped up the ground and caused an explosion which put another large hole in the school's lawn, but went far wide of where the youma was standing. Or rather, where the youma had moved to; if it had been standing still, the attack would have been aimed perfectly.

"Hahaha! Tick, tock, tick, tock, your time is running out!" the youma taunted the senshi as it dodged around energy beams and attempts to attack it in close quarters alike.

Sailor Venus gritted her teeth against the youma's taunting. "Crescent Beam!" she called out her attack, but once again the youma dodged around the attack, returning it with what might have been a rude gesture.

"So slow! Do you have time to flail around like this? Your comrade will die!" The youma laughed, and dodged around a Fire Soul launched by Sailor Mars. Venus would have cursed, if she had known a strong enough epithet. Unfortunately, the strongest language she knew seemed inadequate for the situation.

This youma was FAST**. **Not only that, it seemed to be toying with them, delaying them. It didn't seem to have any offensive capabilities at all, besides its ability to drain any civilians that did so much as look at it. It looked like nothing more than an analog clock with clockwork arms and legs and a bell-shaped head. However ridiculous it looked, though, it was still a youma, and had drained nearly the entire elementary school. Including Hotaru.

* * *

_Earlier_

Hotaru was becoming worried. The youma was draining everyone in her class, and since she hadn't heard any of the usual activity from other classes leaving she guessed that the youma was draining the rest of the school as well. The teacher and everyone else had collapsed, and she had to do likewise to maintain her facade of being drained.

Her blood froze when she felt the presence of the youma enter the room. The clock on the wall sprouted arms and legs, grew a bell for a head, and then pulled itself off of the wall. As the whole thing grew to human size, she heard it chuckling. "Well, well, well. What have we here? A human resistant to my power? You know you can't hide your life essence from me."

She scrambled to her feet and away from the youma, looking for an exit. The youma was covering the door. Maybe she could escape through the window? Her panicked searching for an escape route drew another chuckle from the youma. "Trapped, like a little rat. There will be no escape from me. I'd say your time has run out."

She looked around the room. All her classmates and the teacher were down for the count, she could transform here. But if she fought it here, there would more than likely be casualties among her classmates. She had to draw it elsewhere. "You won't get away with this, monster," she said, preparing to transform.

"Oh, but I already have. The life energy of your entire school has been harvested for the Dark Kingdom. Children don't have as much life energy as full grown adults, but with so many in one spot how could I resist such a banquet? And as a nice bonus, I caught a senshi in my trap. Now let's see, which one of the eight are you?"

Hotaru paled at the realization that she couldn't transform here. If this youma escaped, her civilian cover was completely blown. She had to get away. She ran toward the window intending to crash through it, but the youma suddenly appeared between her and it. Windmilling to a stop, she turned and ran for the door, only to again be cut off by the youma. It was impossibly fast!

"Now, now, none of that," it said. "I wouldn't want you to spoil my fun of guessing your identity. You get away, one of the senshi shows up moments later, and I'll know it's you. You wouldn't want to give away your precious civilian identity so easily, would you?"

"Ooh, this is so exciting. Wait until Master Jadeite finds out I caught a senshi in civilian! I'll be sure to be rewarded!" the youma said excitedly. Then it stopped and regarded Hotaru intently. "But which one? You're obviously not the leader. I don't sense any powerful magic artifacts in your belongings, so that leaves out any of the talisman bearers."

Hotaru backed away from the youma, which was slowly approaching her as it ticked off four senshi on its mechanical digits. She looked around, starting to panic. Where were the other senshi?

"You don't seem to have any wards on or around you, so that leaves out the fire maiden, and you look kinda scrawny, so that leaves out the lightning bringer. So that leaves either the smart one, or the destructive one."

Her eyes widened as it homed in on her senshi identity. Should she risk transforming in front of it? Her resolve firmed as she decided, and started gathering her energy for the transformation. She would just have to make sure this one didn't get away to report her identity to the Dark Kingdom. She took a breath and prepared to trigger her transformation, but was interrupted when the clock torso of the youma started to glow. The words died on her lips as she felt the pull on her life energy suddenly increase and overcome her resistance, and she slumped to the ground as she was quickly drained.

The youma laughed. "The smart one would have known that your precious civilian identity was blown from the start! And now, finally, the Senshi of Destruction has been brought down, the only senshi with the power to thwart the Dark Kingdom's plans! So many of my brothers and sisters have fallen to your glaive, but that ends today! The Dark Kingdom will rule, and the Senshi no longer have the power to stop us! We have won!"

"Supreme Thunder!"

"Fire Soul!"

The attacks crashed through the wall taking the Youma by surprise, and it flew back through the classroom and out through the window from the combined power of the attacks.

"You idiots! There are still civilians in there, you could have hurt them!" yelled Venus.

"It doesn't matter, they're as good as dead anyway," Uranus replied bitterly, and prepared her own attack.

"Oh, no! Hotaru!" cried Mercury as she entered the classroom through the hole her teammates had made in the wall.

* * *

_Present_

Since their surprise attack at the beginning of the fight, the Senshi had not managed a single hit on the youma. It was just too fast for any of them to land a solid hit on. A larger concern for most of the Senshi, however, was the fact that Saturn was out of the fight. After yet again having a Crescent Beam dodged by the youma, Venus called back to Neptune, who was looking after Hotaru, "How is she?"

"Not good," came the reply. "She's slipping. If we don't kill the youma soon, we'll lose her."

The youma laughed, hearing that. "Tick, tock, tick, tock, the time is getting closer to the Dark Kingdom's victory! You can't beat us without your Senshi of Destruction! Once she's out of the way, nothing will be able to stop us from invading your pitiful world!"

"Damn it, you monster! Stop dodging around and face us!" Uranus charged in and started attacking the youma with the space sword, but it proved as adept at dodging around her sword strikes as the numerous energy blasts and attacks it had already dodged.

Jadeite watched down on the fight from his vantage point on the school roof. "I have to say, Clockmaster, I'm rather impressed," he said. "Your time spent living among the humans has served you well. I have to say I would never have targeted the school to catch the senshi in civilian."

"You give me too much credit, Master Jadeite," said a short, fat youma, its arms completely covered in watches. "It was a stroke of luck that the Senshi of Destruction was at this particular school."

"Knowing to attack the school in the first place was no luck," Jadeite said. "No other youma had spent enough time around humans to discern that the Senshi of Destruction was actually younger than the other senshi. An attack on the schools for older children was deemed an unnecessary risk due to the risk of having too many of the Senshi around for immediate response, making the projected energy payoff not worth the risk. Younger children have less life energy, and so they were considered not worth the effort. Catching the Senshi of Destruction alone at school... no, you deserve the credit for this masterstroke."

"Excuse me," said a new voice from behind the two. "But I couldn't help but overhear. You're responsible for... that?" The red-haired newcomer motioned to the fight between the senshi and the clockwork youma.

Jadeite did a double take at the human that seemed to have just materialized on the roof behind him. He hadn't even felt her presence until she spoke. He double checked the battle between the Senshi and the clockwork youma to make sure all the Senshi were accounted for. The seven senshi were all there, and the unconscious Senshi of Destruction was still there in civilian. So this new girl was just an ordinary human.

"A human? How did you get up here?! I'll-" the youma started, before being cut off by Jadeite.

"I see no harm in indulging this human, considering the Dark Kingdom's victory is all but complete. That is, if she tells us how she got up here. You did make sure every clock in the building would drain any human that passed, right?" Jadeite said to the youma.

"Of course! There's no way she could have gone through the building! Even though she has as much energy as twenty normal humans, she shouldn't have made it this far!" the youma replied.

"Twenty normal humans? That's quite impressive. Well, human? Care to tell us how you made it up here?"

"Oh, that?" The red-haired girl shrugged. "It wasn't that hard. I just jumped."

Both Jadeite and the Youma looked around for any ladders or other easy points of entry for the roof, and didn't find one. Jadeite looked back at the girl, and smiled. "You must have quite the powerful legs to have made such a jump. Well, to answer your question, yes, we are responsible for, as you said, 'that'. I am the Dark General Jadeite, right hand to Queen Beryl, who will be ruling your world all too soon, human. You should feel privileged to be in the presence of your world's new masters."

"Jadeite, you should just let me drain her. She's absolutely glowing with life energy."

"Patience, Clockmaster. I'm more interested in the girl. Not every human can make a jump like that," said Jadeite, and turned toward the girl. "So knowing who and what we are, why haven't you called out for help? You don't think you can fight me, a dark general, when your world's champions have trouble dealing with my youma's toys?"

The girl looked over at the fight, and shrugged. "It's good training for them, trying to hit that thing. I'd have gotten involved if it looked like they needed help, but that thing hasn't done anything aggressive besides draining Saturn. I think we can be done with our business here before that becomes a problem."

"And what, exactly, is the business you think you have with the Dark Kingdom, human?" Jadeite asked, ignoring for the moment how the girl had known which Senshi had been drained.

"Oh, not much. Just killing small, fat, and scaly there and then kicking your ass," the girl replied.

Jadeite blinked. Did... did this girl, this HUMAN girl, just threaten him? "Clockmaster, I've changed my mind. Kill this impudent human, and drain every drop of her life energy for the Dark Kingdom." He did not like threats, especially not from an inferior human.

"You know," the girl started, dodging to the side as the youma charged her. "I've been having some problems with my memories. Accepting them, that is." She dodged another blow from the youma, and gave it a kick, sending it off-balance and sprawling. "I didn't think that I could be the person in my memories at the same time as I could be me. I still don't, but I'm not as afraid anymore."

The youma came after the girl with a series of punches and kicks, all of which the girl dodged. She continued on conversationally, as if they were sitting for tea instead of fighting. "Someone told me that I could choose to keep the best parts of myself. I don't have to give up anything I like about who I am to be the person in my memories. I'm that person anyway, regardless of what I decide to do or what parts of myself I decide to keep."

"Damn it girl, hold still so I can hit you. I promise it will be over quickly, just a single touch is all it would take," said Clockmaster, growing increasingly frustrated at the girl's dodging.

Jadeite, on the other hand, had a vague sense of unease at what the girl was talking about. He squashed it quickly. This human girl couldn't possibly represent any kind of threat to the dark kingdom, no matter how apparently skilled in martial arts she appeared to be. "And what, exactly, does that have to do with us?" he asked.

"Oh, it just means that I don't have to be afraid of accepting who I was, because the best part of who I am isn't going to change. I'm Ranma Saotome, heir to the Anything Goes school of Martial Arts, and fighting is what I do best. I don't have to be afraid of that changing because of who I used to be, because being the best at martial arts is the best part of me." Ranma weaved around a complex combination of punches from the youma, but none of them connected, much to the youma's mounting frustration.

"You're a human, and your life energy is about to become food for my youma. Why do you think we even care about who you were before, if now you're nothing more than an entree?" asked Jadeite, losing interest in the girl's ramblings.

Ranma spun around the youma, delivering another powerful kick to the youma, sending it sprawling once again. She was glad her shoes provided some insulation from the youma's energy drain, or she wouldn't have been able to finish her speech. She glared straight at Jadeite. "Because I know you betrayed the Earth Kingdom, you son of a bitch, and now that I know I'm not going to develop an aversion to fighting if I accept who I was, I'm going to kick your ass for it."Before the youma could recover and attack again, she reached into her pocket and grabbed an object, raising it high. "Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

In a bright flash which forced both Clockmaster and Jadeite to shield their eyes, Ranma transformed into Sailor Moon. As her sailor uniform materialized around her, Ranma realized that some more of her memories of the Silver Millennium had returned... some very USEFUL memories. She didn't know if this was because she had accepted that part of herself more, or if her memories were just naturally returning as time went on. It didn't matter. She was going to make good use of the new memories. She reached up and held her tiara with a thumb and forefinger.

Jadeite was stunned. How could his intelligence on the Moon Kingdom forces have been so far off? There were only eight planetary guardians in the Silver Millennium. The Moon had had no guardian, being a satellite and not a planet itself, and Earth's guardian was in the Dark Kingdom's camp. Another Senshi should have been impossible, yet there was a new senshi before him. Even though he knew all eight senshi were down on the ground either fighting his youma's clockwork toy or unconscious, his senses told him that before him was a VERY powerful senshi, at least as powerful as the Senshi of Destruction. The aura she was giving off also told him the whole story about what had happened to his previous youma; she used purification magic.

As this all registered in Jadeite's mind, he realized the danger present. "Clockmaster, retreat! Take the energy you've gathered and go!"

Sailor Moon removed her tiara and charged it with magic. It hovered over her hand and transformed into a shining disc. She called out her attack phrase, giving shape and purpose to the magic. "Moon Tiara Action!" she exclaimed, sending the deadly disc straight at Clockmaster. The youma was unable to react in time and the silver disc sliced clean through the youma, reverting it to dust. Sailor Moon caught her tiara on the return and returned it to her forehead. Without turning, she addressed Jadeite. "Your crimes against the Moon Kingdom are numerous, Jadeite. Even worse are your crimes against humanity. You sold out your own kind to those parasites and lead them in causing chaos and grief. The blood of thousands here today, and uncountable millions millennia ago, is on your hands. For those you have murdered, for humanity, and in the name of the Moon Kingdom, it falls on me, the Senshi of the Moon, to pass judgement on you." She turned toward him and speared him with a glare. "You're a dead man."

* * *

Down in the courtyard, the Senshi were faring poorly. The clockwork youma had dodged everything they had thrown at it – energy blasts, punches or kicks, even thrown rocks – and didn't seem to be slowing down. Neptune held Hotaru in her arms, and was growing increasingly worried as Hotaru's breathing became more and more shallow. "Come on, Hotaru, fight it," she said, but Hotaru's only response was to stop breathing. "We're losing her! We've got to end this, now!"

Desperately, Venus called out, "Everyone, we've got to try to hit it all at once! For Hotaru's sake, we can't miss!" The six Senshi fighting the clockwork youma spread out and prepared their attacks.

"Crescent beam!"

"Shabon Spray!"

"Fire Soul!"

"Supreme Thunder!"

"World Shaking!"

"Dead Scream."

The simultaneous attacks ripped through the grass and destroyed the landscape in an area around where the clockwork youma had stood, but the youma stood among the damage, unscratched. "Time is up, you lose! The Senshi of Destruction is-"

Suddenly, the clockwork youma collapsed, like a puppet with its strings cut. After a moment, the youma disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving an ordinary wall clock in its place.

Venus stared at the clock for a few moments, before she cried out. "Augh! It was just a diversion all along! Where's the real one? Mercury!"

Mercury already had her visor on. "I'm not detecting any... wait... something's going on on the roof!"

"Hey! She's waking up!" said Neptune, as Hotaru started to move in her arms.

"What? That's impossible!" said Uranus, as she and the other girls ran over to where Neptune was holding Hotaru. But sure enough, Hotaru had resumed breathing, and her eyes had started to flutter open.

Mercury scanned Hotaru with her visor. "She's reading normal life energy levels. This is just like..."

The Senshi all looked at each other, not needing that thought to be finished. It was just like last night, when Sailor Moon had killed the giant dog-shaped youma with her purifying attack and saved the lives of all the civilians that had been drained.

Each one of the senshi had had her own reason for not wanting to involve Sailor Moon. Venus and Mars wanted Moon to make her own decision to join them. Mercury and Jupiter felt guilty for having wanted to use Moon as a tool. Uranus and Neptune didn't want to have anything to do with Moon because she was familiar with Pluto. Pluto thought Moon would be a liability without control of her magic. Only Hotaru would have wanted to involve Moon.

As they all came to the realization at the same time that Moon must have found and killed the real youma, they all turned to look toward the school roof, where Mercury had mentioned something was going on. Venus moved first. "Come on, she might still need our help. Let's go!"

Neptune stayed behind to look after Hotaru, who was still trying to recover her senses. The six senshi ran into the school, with Mercury in the lead with her visor up to find the fastest route to the roof.

* * *

Jadeite and Sailor Moon stood across the roof from each other, the former's face a mask of disinterested impassivity, the latter's displaying righteous anger. Behind his cool facade, however, Jadeite's mind was spinning.

'How is it possible for there to be another Senshi? There were only eight planetary guardians in the Moon Kingdom. She claims to be Senshi of the Moon, but there was no Moon guardian. That role was taken up by Queen Serenity herself. So for her to be Senshi of the Moon, she would have to be-'

The gears clicked together in Jadeite's mind, and his impassive mask cracked. It started out as a chuckle, then grew to be a laugh. In moments he was laughing loudly, annoying the Senshi that stood before him.

"Care to share what's so funny?" she asked, annoyance clearly visible on her face.

"It's a private joke," he responded, quickly settling his face back into its impassive mask. "Very well, Senshi of the Moon. If you think you have what it takes to pass judgement on me, I invite you to try... Princess."

In the next moment, he found himself on the ground, reeling from a punch he never saw coming. "What-" he started, before finding himself flying across the roof, pain blossoming in his side. 'Fast!' he thought, before impacting the wall, and slumping to the ground. He shook his head, and looked up just in time to see Sailor Moon release her Moon Tiara Action attack. He hastily erected a barrier, and Sailor Moon's attack rang it like a bell when the glowing disc deflected off of it... but it held, barely. He kept the barrier up, and it rang with impacts from Sailor Moon's attacks before she broke off and stood some distance away. He stood and recovered his composure while within the safety of his barrier.

"Cheap trick," said Sailor Moon.

"There's a reason that I'm one of the generals of Queen Beryl's forces," Jadeite said. Damn, those attacks had hurt!

"Yeah? Well it seems to me that without that trick of yours, you're weaker than even that pathetic excuse for a youma I just dusted. At least it had the sense to use puppets to attack the senshi," retorted Sailor Moon. She didn't like beating up a weaker opponent, but the Dark Kingdom was playing for serious stakes here. Jadeite was a leader in the Dark Kingdom as well; she couldn't underestimate him even if she had caught him off guard.

Jadeite had started gathering his energies for his own attack, but broke it off; he could attack this new senshi from within his barrier and she would have no way of retaliating, but he could hear steps coming up the stairs and knew his time here was running out. His barrier could hold off Sailor Moon, but he didn't think it could stand up to the combined might of her and the other senshi. He might be able to bring one or two of them down with him, but once they shattered his shield it would be all over for him. "Indeed. However, my time is up here, and you've given me a lot to think about. We'll meet again, Senshi of the Moon." he said, and disappeared in a dark whirl.

Sailor Moon fumed at his escape, but with that barrier of his there was really no way for her to have prevented it. Her tiara attack had proven inadequate to breaking the barrier, and she didn't want to risk another Tsukidouken and leave herself exhausted and weakened if it didn't work. But perhaps there was a way to track him down? She walked to where Jadeite had disappeared, and tried to concentrate on the magic around her...

...and had her concentration completely shattered when the roof access door slammed open. Six other senshi came in, and stopped when they saw her standing alone on the roof while a pile of dust nearby slowly dissolved.

"Sailor Moon?" asked Venus. "When... How did you..."

Moon grinned, despite her irritation at the distraction. "My sister was in trouble. I had to come help."

The other senshi's eyes were drawn to the pile of dust. It was taking an uncommonly long time for it to dissolve. "You killed that, all by yourself?" asked Mercury.

Moon glanced over to the youma's remains. "It wasn't much. I got the feeling this one was a lot weaker than the one yesterday. Especially since it was using that puppet to attack instead of attacking by itself. Jadeite wasn't much either, until he put up that barrier of his. I couldn't even put a dent in it."

Mercury thought about that a moment. A youma that specialized in creating puppets to attack may very well be weaker by itself. But that clockwork distraction it had created was no joke. Then the last thing Moon had said caught up with her. "You traded blows with Jadeite himself? He was here?!"

Moon nodded. "Yeah. I kinda feel bad about hitting him so hard, since he seemed so weak. But if he's a leader of the Dark Kingdom, I can't afford to pull my punches. He didn't seem too hurt after he got that barrier of his up though, and I know I hit him hard enough to seriously injure a normal person. So I probably just caught him by surprise."

Uranus' expression darkened as she listened to Moon. "This is a trick!" she exclaimed. "Even the strongest of us can't go up against a Dark Kingdom youma alone, and now you expect us to believe you killed one by yourself? Then you want us to believe you went up against a Dark General by yourself? Look at you, you're not even scratched. There's no way you faced Jadeite. More likely you're a Dark Kingdom plant. Or maybe you're just another of Pluto's victims."

"Uranus, calm down and listen to yourself. You can't really think-" started Pluto.

"No, you listen to me, Time Bitch," interrupted Uranus, causing most of the other senshi present to gasp. "You've had the power all along to prevent this all from happening, and you refuse to use it. You could have saved everyone that has died to the Dark Kingdom's attacks. You can go back in time and stop it all from happening!"

"I did that, once!" said Pluto. "I came back to give us the warning we needed to prepare for the Dark Kingdom's onslaught. And I paid for that with my life... no, my very existence! I told you about the future me that dissolved right in front of me, right down to the starseed, just for delivering a message that we needed to prevent a future that we have avoided. That was all so that we had time for Sailor Moon to awaken."

Uranus glared back at Pluto. "Well, now we know who she is, if that's even who she really is, so now you can go back and awaken her before all this happened. Before thousands of people died. Before... before my parents..." Uranus' composure cracked, and Moon had a moment to see past Uranus' angry and bitter exterior, to the grief that was consuming her. Before Uranus could launch into another angry tirade, Moon had walked up behind her, and wrapped her in her embrace.

Uranus froze as Moon's arms wrapped around her, and she felt Moon's purifying magic entering her. She struggled as she felt the magic eat through her despair and tug at the angry knot of grief in her heart. "Please, Princess Uranus," said Moon. "Let it go."

Uranus pushed hard against Moon, breaking the embrace, and turned and slapped Moon. Moon staggered back at the impact, and Venus raced to catch her before she fell. "How dare you?!" yelled Uranus. "How dare you use Princess Serenity's trick on me! You may have fooled the others into thinking you're another senshi, but to me you're just another pawn in this sick game Pluto is playing!" Uranus didn't seem to notice the tears falling freely from her own eyes as she raged at the girl that had the gall to pretend to be a senshi.

Sailor Moon fought to regain her balance, and succeeded with Venus' help. Thoughts raced through her mind as reactions from past and present warred, the end effect leaving her gaping at Uranus as she raged. Uranus had caught her off-guard, and slapped her, she'd have to make sure she didn't let her guard down around Uranus like that again. Uranus had struck her, she had actually _struck_ _her_. And was Uranus crying? She thought about what she had felt within Uranus during their brief contact, and could only feel pity for the girl that had bottled up so much grief within herself that she could no longer feel anything but pain.

Uranus caught the look on Moon's face at that moment and screamed. "You are NOT her! Don't you look at me like you're her! You're just an imposter that Pluto arranged and coached! Stop acting like her!"

"Uranus, stop it!" said Venus. "You sound crazy right now, you know that? Pluto couldn't possibly have-"

The sound of distant sirens interrupted anything else Venus was going to say. "We have to go," said Venus. "Moon, are you alright?"

Moon nodded numbly, still trying to sort herself out. What had she just done to Uranus? Memories of doing what she had just done to Uranus during the Silver Millennium floated past her consciousness, but some context was missing; the how and the why. She wasn't really sure what she had been trying to accomplish. Did even the past her know what she was doing? "I think so, Heart-ch-... er, Venus." She caught her slip. She might be more accepting of her past self, but that nickname was just _girly_.

"We'll gather back at the shrine, you can tell us more about what happened up here when we get there," said Mars. "Uranus, you can sort out your issues with Pluto and Moon later. Could you get Neptune and-" she started, before she realized that Uranus had already left. She looked down into the school courtyard just in time to see Uranus and Neptune leave, with Neptune carrying Hotaru. "Well, so much for that idea. Come on, let's get out of here before the cops arrive."

* * *

Jadeite winced at the twinge in his side from the blow he had taken from Sailor Moon. The new senshi was powerful, and he could not afford to underestimate her again. Queen Beryl had summoned him, though, so any thoughts of revenge for her attack on his person could wait. He had a report to give.

He entered Queen Beryl's chamber, and kneeled before her. "My Queen," he said, and lowered his head.

"You have lost two youma in the last two days, and have nothing to show for it," said Queen Beryl. "Explain."

"Means to an end, my Queen. The first was a surprise, but the second has unearthed two points of intelligence that will prove invaluable to our eventual conquest of Earth," said Jadeite.

"You have my attention, and I will decide whether the intelligence you have uncovered is worth the loss of two of our youma and the life energy resources used to create them and send them to earth. You had better not be wasting my time," warned Beryl.

"My queen, this intelligence is well worth the loss of two youma. We now know the civilian identity of the Senshi of Destruction. During the last attack, she was caught in civilian form and, were it not for the interference of a new senshi, we could have killed her," reported Jadeite.

"Valuable intelligence indeed. But did I hear you correctly, that there is a new senshi?" asked Beryl.

"Correct, my Queen," answered Jadeite. "That is the second piece of intelligence uncovered. A new senshi has appeared, one claiming to be the Senshi of the Moon. She wields purification magic, and it was her interference that caused us to lose the energy harvests from the last two youma."

"Senshi of the Moon?" asked Beryl. "There is no such senshi. The mantle of Moon Guardian was taken up by Queen Serenity herself. In order to be the Senshi of the Moon, this girl would have to be-... Ah, I see. So Serenity's spawn has shown herself. So foolish of her. Jadeite, you are to locate the Moon Princess and force her to give us the Silver Crystal. Do not allow her to die before she relinquishes it, or it may slip forever from our grasp. With it, we will finally awaken Metallia, and then we will rule this world! Go now, conquest awaits."

"I hear and obey, my Queen," Jadeite said. He stood, and with a final bow, turned and left the chamber. He had plans to make. Locating this 'Sailor Moon' would be a simple task. After all, the girl had foolishly given him her civilian identity.

* * *

AN: I think setting a once-per-month update schedule was a good call on my part. It gives me a definite timetable for releases, which should keep anything like the 3 month dearth of updates from happening again.

Once again, a big thanks to my beta readers. Currently, they are Uragaara and Aikoyu Saotome.

I've decided to take some space here to answer a few reviews. I won't be going back very far in the reviews, but there's some questions I decided were pertinent enough to provide answers to, and I want to write some responses.

~Dumbledork: I hate to dip in to fanon to justify this, but Jusenkyo curses are widely regarded as some of the most powerful curses known to man. Luna was right in one respect, though. It does remove the curse, but only as long as Ranma is transformed. Further than that, you'll have to keep reading to see how the story unfolds... I probably shouldn't have even said this much.

~Inara Seraph: This is a much darker alternate universe, and I'm hoping to really drive that home in coming chapters. Less than a full day has passed since the beginning of chapter 1, and these beginning chapters have focused more on characterizing Ranma. Once the plot has a chance to move away from Ranma's internal issues, you'll have a chance to see what ghosts the other senshi have haunting them. Sorry, the outer senshi aren't going to get away lightly on this.

~ijpowers92: If you're reading the beta chapters I post at fukufics, why not post a few lines of constructive criticism? I haven't had a whole lot of response over there, aside from a precious few people posting grammar tweaks and the occasional useful input on plot points. I could use more of the latter, the former is still good, and more and varied opinions are more than welcome.

~Ranmaleopard: This isn't the Ranma you're expecting. This is a Ranma that has had a lifetime of memories of another life stuffed in his head sideways, broken down under the strain of that and his own insecurities, and now _she_ is trying to put herself back together from the pieces that remain. Ranma hasn't actually changed a whole lot. She just has the memories and experiences from another life to add to her own, and she hasn't yet seen the benefits of that. She's still dealing with her insecurities, hasn't figured out who she really is yet, but when she does, she will still be _Ranma_. She's just going to be a Ranma that's also Princess Serenity.

~Lord Anime: Sorry, no spoilers on any pairings.

~Not just another Storm: Oh yes, Cologne is definitely going to make an appearance. Shampoo might also, but not in a fiancee capacity. That possibility is dead in this fic.

~Weebee: I am honored that you, of all people, have taken the time to write not just one, but multiple reviews of my story. Your Sailor Moon crossover, Contrast Match, was a large inspiration to this story, and had I not read your Contrast Match this story would not exist. So don't fret about posting anything you like about this story, because if it weren't for your own influence this story would not have happened.

Ok, so now that I'm done having a fangasm over your posting a review on my story, I'll respond to a few of your remarks.

I lost track of how many times I rewrote the Cologne scene in the last chapter, and I'm sick of it. Sorry, it stays as is, I'm not touching it from here.

The words "Give" and "up" do not pair up to form any meaningful combination in Ranma's lexicon. This wouldn't be Ranma if he weren't holding on to himself with everything he is. If I were to write him as giving in like that, it wouldn't be any kind of Ranma I'd end up writing about. It would be just Princess Serenity.

I haven't seen or read Codename Sailor V, and Mrs. Aino was not characterized much if at all in the Sailor Moon series, so I didn't have a lot to go off of. But for this story, I need her to be the loving, caring mother figure for Ranma and Minako, so that's what she is. Mrs. Tsukino is another story. She doesn't have to worry as much after a daughter that didn't end up being the repository for a Silver Millenium princess's soul, so she has more time to pursue other interests. Like her daughter's extra curricular activities. And gossip.

My lips are sealed for now on the Mistress 9 angle. No, really, I shouldn't be saying even this much.

Now, I'm sure you've probably heard this too many times, but when are you going to update A Fractured Blossom? I mean, come on. A two year cliffhanger? I'm dying here!

*looks at own story Uzumaki Noriko and sweatdrops* Er... Right. The irony's not lost on me.

~NaruHarem4ever: First I receive reviews from one of my favorite authors, and then I'm compared positively with another? You're too kind. Tales of the Foxcat is another one of my favorite stories, and I've been waiting for a while for an update to Hell is a Martial Artist.

~Cumpucles: Yes, I'm aware. No, there isn't any other reason. Ranma needs to be the same age, if not a little bit younger, than the other senshi save for Hotaru.

~Eldersprig: Next time you review, would you please make sure you post something that is useful to the author you're reviewing for? Simply saying something I've written is wrong without providing ANY real-world information I could use to correct my story is completely useless, and makes you look ignorant because you're telling me how the universe I'm writing about works.

Happosai is the sole grandmaster of the Founding Branch of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. He is also its founder. Grandmasters in Anything Goes are the only ones that can promote a student to Master for two reasons: first, Happosai says so. Honestly, can you really see Happosai giving anyone else, much less the likes of Soun and Genma, the right to confer mastership without having to go through him? It's a small school with few members, and this works for him. The idea that Ranma would know that in Anything Goes you need to be tested for Mastership by a Grandmaster is likely due to Genma.

Second, I don't really believe for a minute that Happosai ever gave Soun or Genma mastership in the founding school of Anything Goes. Before their training was complete, they sealed Happosai away and each started their own branch based on the founding school and set themselves up to preside over it. This may mean that they are the grandmasters of their own individual schools of martial arts but, given that they attached the name Anything Goes to their schools and they are not masters of Anything Goes, they may not even be masters of the schools they preside over. Genma couldn't confer mastership of a school of martial arts he is himself not a master of, neither could Soun, leaving the Anything Goes school of Martial Arts with one grandmaster and 4 practitioners, 5 if you count Akane. I don't; she was never taught more than the basics of martial arts, and none of anything goes. I really rather doubt that Genma and Soun even have permission from Happosai to teach anything goes, but Genma teaching Ranma slips through the family member loophole. Ranma thinks Genma is a Master, but whether this is due to Genma's lies or simply due to Ranma's assumption is anyone's guess.

TLDR version: My story, so I say: Um. Yes. Next time, please post useful information in your review, instead of just a useless negatory.


	7. Chapter 6

Haruka walked into the bedroom, where Michiru was treating Hotaru. "How is she?" she asked.

Michiru looked over to where her love was standing and smiled tiredly. "If nothing else, I trust the Mercury Computer's analysis of her. She'll be alright with some rest." She turned back to where Hotaru was sleeping.

Haruka walked over to Michiru, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You should get some rest yourself. I know you're worried about her, after we almost lost her. But worrying yourself to death isn't going to do you any good. And you said it yourself, Mercury's computer reported she'd be okay. She has all her life energy back."

"I know. I just can't help but think... if that new girl, Sailor Moon, hadn't shown up yesterday..." Michiru started.

Haruka's expression immediately darkened. "That is NOT Princess Serenity. I don't know what Pluto's trying to pull, but you know as well as I do that Princess Serenity was not sent forward."

"I know, but have you considered the source of that information? Endymion had already been corrupted by the time he told us that, and we haven't seen him since then," said Michiru. "It's possible he was lying to us, to get us to give up."

"Endymion is a lot of things, but even as a Dark Kingdom stooge, he's not a liar. He was with Princess Serenity in a hidden area on Earth when the Queen's spell cast us forward. He died making sure she would live. The Queen's spell wouldn't have worked on Princess Serenity if she was still alive," said Haruka.

"You're right, of course," said Michiru. "But who is this new girl, then, and why does she seem so much like Princess Serenity?"

"I don't know, and frankly, I don't care," answered Haruka, angrily. "She's not one of us. She's a Dark Kingdom plant, or just another victim of Pluto's machinations. Either way we have to get rid of her, immediately."

* * *

_Meanwhile_

At the Hikawa Shrine, four girls and one mau listened as Ranma finished detailing the end of her fight with Jadeite. The looks on their faces ran the full range between amazed and disbelieving, but none of them interrupted while Ranma told her story.

"... But after he put up that shield of his, I couldn't even put a dent in it. I could hear my attacks ringing against it, but it didn't seem like it was even going to crack. After that, I guess he just decided he'd had enough and teleported away. Then you guys showed up, and you all know the rest," Ranma finished.

"He probably heard us coming," said Makoto. "That coward won't stick around for a fair fight. We've tried to corner him enough times to know how he is about that."

Ami had the Mercury Computer out, and was typing furiously into it. Rei looked at Ami quizzically for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, now at least we know he's not invulnerable underneath that barrier of his. Maybe if we can catch him off-guard again, we can bring him down for good."

Ami shook her head. "The element of surprise is lost; it's doubtful we'll have another opportunity like that. But the more we know about the general's abilities, the better the chances we have of breaking through his defenses." She snapped the computer closed and released it into a subspace pocket. "Maybe we could lure him out with a single senshi to see what kind of abilities he employs? If any senshi has a chance of weathering whatever tricks Jadeite has up his sleeves, it'll be Ranma."

Minako looked indignantly over at Ami. "You want to use my Flower-chan as _bait?!_" she asked incredulously. "Have you forgotten who she is?"

Ranma held a hand up to Minako. "It's alright, Heart-... Minako. I'm not exactly that person anymore, and the Moon Kingdom hasn't existed for thousands of years. For now, I'm just another... girl..."

Ranma looked out the window off into the distance, seemingly lost in thought. Ami took that opportunity to defend herself. "Well, after seeing what she did against that dog youma last night, I thought she was the one that was most likely to survive an encounter with Jadeite. She doesn't seem to be too against it either."

Makoto nodded and voiced her support for Ami's plan. "It's a good idea. It could work, and if we can actually bring him down, that would be one less dark kingdom general to deal with. We might actually have a reprieve from all the youma showing up all the time, and that would give Ami a chance to catch up on our schoolwork."

Ami shot an angry glance at Makoto. "If you spent just a little bit more time studying, you wouldn't need me to keep you caught up on your work when the youma show up. I really shouldn't be doing your homework in the first place. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you use the youma attacks as an excuse to slack off."

Rei rolled her eyes at the familiar argument that was brewing and decided to interrupt. "Well, if Ranma's okay with it, that's the important part. I don't like the idea of using Princess Serenity as bait either, but if she's willing..."

Minako nudged Ranma. "You okay there? You look like you're a thousand miles away."

Ranma came back to herself with a start, and blinked. What had she just been thinking about? "Yeah, I'm fine. Listen, could you cover for me with your mom for a while? I have something I need to do."

"Again? Ranma, last time you said something like that, you came to my house crying in the middle of the night... and you still haven't told me what that was all about." Minako said, drawing the attention of the other three girls in the room.

"Wait, what happened?" asked Makoto

"She did what?" said Rei at almost exactly the same time.

Ami remained silent but let the quizzical look in her eyes voice the question for her.

Ranma waved her hands in a warding gesture at the four girls. "Hey, it's not like that this time. I just need to go to Nerima and get some of my stuff back. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Makoto gave Ranma an incredulous look. "How did you end up in Juuban while your stuff ended up in Nerima? Mix-up on the rail lines?"

Ranma shook her head, and decided to fall back on one of her all-purpose excuses. "Just blame my old man for that," she said. Well, it was true enough anyway. If her father had let her come here when she asked, instead of insisting on going to the Tendos, she would still have her belongings, what few of them there were. On the other hand, she didn't even want to think about what he would have said about the way she broke down, so it was probably for the best. "Anyway, I want to try to get there and back before it gets too dark, so I'd better leave now. Er, do any of you have a map to Nerima?"

Rei's computer printer whirred to life, and started printing out what looked like a map of the area, with a line indicating the fastest route to Nerima. Rei shot an accusing look at Ami, who was just putting away the Mercury Computer. Ami gave her an innocent look. "What? It's not my fault your computer isn't secure or fast enough."

Rei scowled. "How did you hack into my computer, anyway? I don't even have a wireless network for you to hack in to!"

This time it was Minako's turn to try to break up a familiar argument. "Well, however she got it, Ranma has her map." She turned to said redhead. "Are you going to be okay? I could come with you."

Ranma shook her head at that. "I'll be fine, this is something I've got to do myself. I'll see myself out," she said, and headed for the door.

"Take care then, Flower-chan. I'll see you when you get home," Minako said.

Despite Minako's attempted interference, Rei and Ami had managed to engage in their all-too-familiar argument over whether it was okay to use the Mercury Computer to hack into other computers. Somehow Makoto had gotten involved since Minako had turned her attention to Ranma, and when Minako turned back to the three of them, they were all fully invested in arguing about it. Minako facepalmed and sighed. A leader's work is never done.

She looked over to where Artemis was curled up on Rei's bed. "Why don't you ever say anything when they start fighting like this?"

Artemis looked up at Minako when she addressed him, and gave a little shrug before curling up again. "Why would they listen to me? I'm just a cat."

* * *

The entire journey to Nerima, Ranma couldn't get what Sailor Uranus had said out of her mind. 'You're not her!' she had said. She was right, in a way. She wasn't strictly Princess Serenity. But she wasn't strictly Ranma anymore, either. So what did that make her? Guy? Girl? Princess? Martial Artist? Maybe all of the above?

The first thing she needed to sort out was her self-identity, she decided. She stopped at a convenience store restroom and splashed herself with some hot water. With his manhood restored for the first time in what felt like days, he resumed travelling to Nerima. He caught a passing rail car, and settled himself on its roof for the ride.

He thought about what made him the person he was. He was Ranma Saotome, Martial Artist, raised to be a man among men by his father to fulfill the contract with his mother. He nodded at that, but then frowned. That couldn't be all there was to him, could it? He thought about what else he liked, and came up short. Everything he had liked aside from the art, even before he had been cursed, had been forced out of him by his father. Usually it was because it was too girly, but other times it was because it was a distraction from the Art.

He thought about a few things he had given up. Games of strategy... well, his father had him focus that into the art. He'd once liked building models, but that seemed too girly to Genma, and he was quickly dissuaded from it. Sports were a distraction. Everything was a distraction. He realized that, at current, all he was was a martial artist... and maybe a cook. Genma did allow him to cook for them once in a while, and he did take a certain amount of pride in making the food turn out good. So he was a Martial Artist that could cook. That wasn't a lot of person, when he thought about it.

What about friends? He'd been on the road for so long, he'd almost forgotten the meaning of the word. The friendship Minako had shown him so far... had he experienced anything like it before? He had to think hard to remember back so long ago to another little boy he remembered playing with, before Genma took him on the road again. The boy was being trained in a strange kind of food-based martial art, and he'd sparred with the boy more than once. He'd liked playing with that boy, and he'd been sad when he had to leave him. That boy probably didn't even remember him, though. What about more recently? He thought about the boy at the last school he attended, the one that was always getting lost. The two of them had gotten into more fights than anyone else he could remember, but beneath the outward hostility there was a lot of respect between them. They were more rivals than friends, but somehow he knew that when the chips were down he could count on his rival to have his back.

Further thought about his friendships came up empty. Besides those two, he couldn't think of anyone he knew as more than a passing acquaintance. So, he had a friend who had probably forgotten him by now, and a rival he hadn't seen for too long. Was he happy? He thought he had been once, but he'd never really thought about it. In some way, he guessed he was content with what he was, but it didn't really seem like enough anymore.

He compared that to Serenity's life. She was a princess, raised to be the heir to the Moon Kingdom. She had been friends with the other eight planetary princesses... that did include Princess Pluto, for all that they had a somewhat antagonistic relationship. She loved Princess Venus like a sister, the two of them had been nearly inseparable. She might have been a little bit of a crybaby, but that was probably because she was used to being given her way. She liked plants and flowers, things that had been scarce on the moon and yet found in abundance on Earth. She liked to sneak off to Earth to pick flowers, and then use her magic to transform moon rocks into crystal formations that mimicked those flowers. Her room in the Moon Palace was full of such formations. It was a beautiful place...

A splash of water brought Ranma back to the present, and she grumbled. So much for arriving male, unless she wanted to stop for more hot water. She looked around to get her bearings, and decided she still had some time before the rail car reached Nerima. She spared a glare toward the underpass the rail car had passed through; she could still see the broken pipe that had sprayed her, and was still spraying water all over the rail line.

Reflecting back on what she had been thinking about, she decided that there was a lot more to Princess Serenity than there was to Ranma. But somehow, Princess Serenity had felt... trapped. She was watched and protected all the time. Unless she snuck off somewhere, which she would invariably get into trouble for, she always had a guard on her. She had been told it was for her protection, but she just felt stifled, like she was something fragile that needed to be protected. Like a bird in a gilded cage.

Ranma felt hollow now, but at least he was free. Princess Serenity was whole, but had no freedom. On thinking about it, neither choice seemed to be that attractive. She couldn't imagine needing to be watched over all the time, but she couldn't settle for the life she had as Ranma anymore. But then, Luna had said that she could choose which parts of her she wanted to keep.

She thought about all that she was, and who she wanted to be. She wanted to have that wholeness of Princess Serenity, and keep the freedom of Ranma. The princesses were here, her sister was here, and she wanted to be friends with them again. But she didn't want to be protected and caged like that again... and she realized she didn't have to be. She was Ranma Saotome, heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, and she didn't lose to anyone. She was also Princess Serenity, heir to the Moon Kingdom, and she had a responsibility to protect the world from the Dark Kingdom.

"I am Princess Ranma-Serenity Saotome," she said, testing how that identity felt to her. She nodded. "Ranma for short," she finished. She didn't have to give up being Ranma in order to be Princess Serenity. She was both at once. She smiled, for the moment at peace with herself.

Then a stray thought about Prince Endymion wiped the smile from her face, simultaneously making her stomach flutter in delight at the thought of being held in his strong arms, and making her stomach turn in disgust at the thought of being with a guy. She suppressed a shudder. Okay, so there were still things about being Princess Serenity that she still needed to come to terms with. She may be accepting of a past life where she had been a girl, and accepting that the girl in that past life was still a part of her, but she was still a guy. Or at least, part of her was; she was probably going to need to get used to having two, sometimes opposing, reactions to the same situation. She didn't think she was ready to even consider any kind of romance with another guy until she got her head more sorted out.

She felt the rail car start to slow, and noticed that she was approaching Nerima. She hopped off the rail car and made her way to a nearby street, looking around for an elevated area from which to gain her bearings. Spotting one in the distance, she started to head there.

On her way, she passed an electronics store, where a radio in the window was broadcasting a news channel. She stopped when she heard the radio news reporter mention Juuban.

"... and in Juuban today there has been another youma attack, this time targetting the local elementary school. The Sailor Senshi responded to the threat, and by all indications battled it out with the youma there with no regards for the lives of the youma's hostages. Five students and a teacher were hospitalized with injuries obtained when the Sailor Senshi blew through a classroom wall. One student was found dead at the scene, and two students are reported missing by their parents. There is a reward posted by the school board for any information leading to the location of either of the missing students."

As the radio continued on to give the names and descriptions of the two missing students, Ranma sighed, and shook her head. "This... isn't right," she said. The Senshi were supposed to be protecting people, not causing injuries and deaths. She definitely needed to talk to Minako when she returned to Juuban.

"Darn right, it isn't right, missy," said another passerby. "Who do those senshi think they are, anyway? Just fighting the big nasty monster and running off. We're better off without them, I say."

Ranma frowned. "But then who would take care of the youma? The police wouldn't be able to handle them," she said.

The passerby shrugged. "Make the senshi give their weapons over to the police. Then the police would be able to handle them, and a lot better than a bunch of kids playing dress-up would." The passerby continued on his way, leaving Ranma alone with the radio. Ranma frowned at the man's attitude. Did everyone think like that about the Senshi, even out here in Nerima?

"In other news," the radioman continued, "A reward is being offered by the Juuban Police Department for any information leading to the capture and detainment of any or all of the Sailor Senshi. These girls possess weapons that have been proven highly destructive, and so should be considered armed and extremely dangerous. Do not attempt to approach a Senshi if you see one. If you have any information regarding the Sailor Senshi, please call Juuban Police."

Ranma shook her head and continued on her way. She really didn't know what to think about the police being after the Sailor Senshi. Did they really think that the powers the senshi had could be given away so easily? She supposed they did, or they wouldn't be trying to get in the Senshi's way now. Of course, that now included her, as well. She really couldn't think of herself as being apart from the Senshi anymore. They needed her, and she was one of them whether she accepted that or not. Besides, there was no way she was going to let her sister Heart-chan fight the Dark Kingdom alone.

She spotted the Tendo Dojo, and roof-hopped over to it. She walked up to the front door and lifted her hand to knock on the door... and then remembered that she was still female. She groaned, and started to leave so she could get some hot water, when the door opened and a voice called to her. "Ranma, is that you?"

Ranma turned back to see the middle sister - Nabiki, if her memory served her - standing in the doorway looking her over. "So that's what you look like as a girl. Not bad, Saotome," she said.

Nabiki was giving her the same speculative look she had at first, when Ranma had arrived before with her father, and Ranma still wasn't sure she liked it. "Yeah, it's me. My pops isn't around, is he?" she asked.

"He went looking for you this morning, and hasn't been back since. He gave us your description as a girl in case you came back, and took both your backpacks. He said he'd be back around nightfall..." Nabiki looked up and gauged the sun's position. "That should be in about an hour and a half," she said.

Ranma pondered that and sighed. "No, I don't think he's coming back. If he took the packs, he's planning on staying somewhere else."

Nabiki rolled her eyes. "That figures. He got in an argument with daddy last night after you disappeared. Daddy wanted to call the engagement off, since you didn't seem interested and none of us stepped up to take the engagement. There was a lot of crying and drama, and I really wasn't interested enough to listen to everything they said to each other, but the end effect is you don't have to marry any of us if you don't want to. That's also assuming Genma could even find you. You... don't want to marry any of us, do you?"

Ranma looked at Nabiki, the part of her that had been Princess Serenity sending off warning signals that she had just been handed a live grenade in the form of a question. She thought carefully about her answer before she spoke. "I'm sure you're a really nice girl, and any guy should be flattered if you were to just take an interest in them. But I don't know you, or either of your sisters, well enough to say whether I want to marry any of you or not. If we had more time to be together, I'd say we should start by being friends before we decide if we want to be engaged, but I have something important going on elsewhere. I... can't stay here."

Nabiki held the speculative look for a few more moments, then closed her eyes and sighed. "It's just as well, I guess," she said, before opening her eyes again. "I can't tell at this point if you're a guy who turns into a girl, or a girl who turns into a guy, and that kinda wierds me out when I think of trying to start a relationship with you. Your father told us what the right answer was, but I still feel like I'm talking to a girl."

Ranma blinked, and finally identified the speculative look Nabiki had been giving her. "Wait, you were interested in... with me?"

Nabiki looked at her for a few moments as if trying to decide how much to say, then shrugged and continued on with a 'to hell with it' expression. "I've burned a lot of my bridges. Most of the guys that know me are afraid of me, and the rest just plain don't like me, because of how I do business. When I heard about this engagement, I thought a nice little arranged marriage would be just what I needed to make sure I wouldn't have to be alone if I couldn't find a guy on my own... and let me tell you, my prospects are really slim. I'm not like my big sister, who's so sweet that she could find a guy in a heartbeat if she were to just try... or like my little sister, who literally has guys swarming all over her at the schoolgate every morning. To tell the truth, I'm a bit jealous of both of them."

Ranma thought about that a moment. "So you were going to take the engagement. But why didn't you?"

"Would you believe it's because I thought you were gay?" Nabiki asked.

Ranma blinked. "Well, that's new, I guess."

Nabiki nodded. "You seemed a bit girlish then, and I thought it had to be because you were gay. I didn't want the engagement if I was going to lose you anyway to another guy; I really didn't want that kind of hit to my ego. Now that I know about the curse, it makes sense... but you seem even more like a girl now, and not just because you are one at the moment. Are you..."

Nabiki let the question dangle, and Ranma realized what she was asking. "No, I'm not gay... at least, I don't think I am. To be honest, this whole thing is all kinds of confusing for me, and all I'm going to say about it is there's a bit more to it than just changing genders for me."

Nabiki thought about that and nodded. "Makes sense, I guess. So what now? We refuse the engagement, go our separate ways, and never see each other again?"

Ranma looked at Nabiki again, and realized that Nabiki was still holding on to some small sliver of hope that she'd take the engagement. "Do you even want the engagement, now?" she asked.

"You really are like a girl, aren't you? I should be charging you for all the information about me I've been giving you for free," Nabiki jibed, deadpan.

"But I thought you just said that the idea of getting into a relationship with me wierds you out," Ranma said.

Nabiki rolled her eyes. "No, I said that the fact I couldn't tell whether you're a guy that turns into a girl or a girl that turns into a guy by talking to you wierds me out," she said. "You said you're not gay, or at least that it's confusing for you, and with your... condition, I can't really blame you for that. I would be lying if I said your guy form didn't turn my crank a little, and I could certainly do a lot worse than a guy that could probably turn anyone that tried to threaten me into a human pretzel. You're... attractive in a lot of ways, Saotome, and I suppose I can overlook your unique situation in light of all you offer." Nabiki paused for a breath, then seemed to realize what she had just said. "And if you tell ANYONE, even my sisters, that I said any of this, I'll find some way to make you regret it for the rest of your life," she said with a slight blush.

Ranma thought about it, and decided that she really didn't want to hurt the girl's feelings. The part of her that was Serenity felt sorry for the girl, and the part of her that was Ranma did think she was kinda cute. "I'm not going to promise anything about the engagement," she started, and Nabiki's face visibly fell. "But if you give me some way of contacting you, I promise I'll keep in touch," she said.

Nabiki's reaction was immediate. She ran into the house, and after about a minute came back out with an object in each hand. One seemed to be a piece of paper, and the other was...

She didn't even have time to register the teacup in Nabiki's other hand before she had tossed its contents onto her. She, now he, gave Nabiki a sour look. "It's a promise, then," Nabiki said and, before Ranma could react, kissed him full on the lips. "Sealed with a kiss," she continued after the kiss, with an impish grin. "You'd better make good on that promise, Saotome," she finished as she folded the piece of paper and stuck it in his pocket while his halted mental processes struggled to reboot.

"Hey!" came a voice from above, and Ranma recognized it as that of Nabiki's younger sister. Both he and Nabiki looked up to where Akane was leaning half out of a second floor window. "You'd better not be getting any ideas about my sister!" she yelled.

Nabiki looked up at Akane with a half-lidded stare. "Akane, what are you doing? You know what I charge for eavesdropping on me, right?" she asked in a deadpan voice.

"But sis, he... she..." Akane started.

Nabiki pulled something out of her pocket, and as she flipped it open and pulled a pencil out of it Ranma recognized it as a small notepad book, complete with pencil holder. Akane's eyes widened when she saw it, and she quickly drew back inside shutting the window.

Nabiki sighed as she put the notepad book away. "Family," she started. "Can't live with 'em..." She let that proverb dangle unfinished, and looked at Ranma again. "I expect to hear from you. It's a promise," she said, before turning around and heading back inside."

"Nabiki, wait," Ranma said as his higher brain functions finished rebooting. Nabiki turned and looked at him, the look in her eyes seeming to just dare him to say anything to contradict the promise he had just made. Ranma scrambled to find something to say. "I just... if pops comes back, could you tell him something for me?"

Nabiki nodded and looked at him expectantly. "Mom's really lonely," he said. "Tell him he needs to go back to her in Juuban, and visit once in a while. She... She's missed us. Both of us." Ranma remembered the atmosphere of loneliness that had permeated the Saotome home, and his heart almost broke anew just from the memory of it.

Nabiki looked him over one more time and nodded. "You have a good heart, Saotome. I'll tell him if I see him again," she said, entered the house, and closed the door.

Ranma looked up at the window the younger sister had been hanging out of, and met the girl's hostile gaze. Brr, if looks could kill... He turned and left the Tendo property, pulling the piece of paper out of his pocket to examine it. It contained Nabiki's name, a phone number, and an e-mail, as well as several forms of instant messenger. Below that was written, in neat handwriting, 'Contact me. It's a promise. 3'

Ranma had to chuckle as he walked down the street toward the rail line. "Oh, she had me twisted around her little finger, didn't she?" he asked, to no one in particular. On thinking about it, he decided that if circumstances had been different, he might have actually ended up engaged to the girl. It wasn't entirely an unattractive prospect, she seemed to be a nice enough girl. He folded the paper back up and slipped it back into his pocket before taking to the roofs.

Nabiki watched Ranma's retreating form from the window, with a smile on her face and a slight blush. She didn't hear Kasumi walk up behind her, and jumped when the older girl spoke. "Coming on a little strong, aren't we Nabiki?"

Nabiki fought to calm her racing heart. "Don't sneak up on me like that! How much did you overhear?" she asked.

Kasumi cocked her head and raised a finger to her cheek as she looked at Nabiki, that serene look never once leaving her face. "Oh, was I sneaking up on you? I was just walking like I normally do."

"Yeah, right," said Nabiki, but she had to admit she had been a little distracted.

"Well, you'll just have to guess at what I heard and what I didn't. I know how much you charge for eavesdropping," Kasumi said. "I do have a bit of advice, though."

Nabiki scowled at her older sister, but it was hard to keep up in the face of that serene demeanor. She sighed. She knew Kasumi was sharper than she usually acted, but even she couldn't guess at how keen the mind behind that bastion of serenity was. "What is it," she asked resignedly. She just couldn't stay mad at Kasumi.

"Don't manipulate him too much. He probably already knows what you're doing, and if you do it too much you'll lose him as even a friend," Kasumi said, before returning to her kitchen.

Nabiki stared after Kasumi for a minute before shaking her head. 'Definitely sharper than she acts,' she thought, before heading up the stairs to deliver Akane's bill.

* * *

General Endymion sat in his quarters in the Dark Kingdom, brooding. It wasn't over the youma he had helped create or the lives he was indirectly responsible for ending as a result. The corruption that had seeped into his heart prevented him from even seeing them as people, and so the blood on his hands did not matter. Every once in a while, though, a long-forgotten memory would resurface; a memory of a girl with fiery red hair and crystal blue eyes, with a heart as pure as the white gowns she usually wore. He remembered giving his life so that this girl would live.

Ironically, that act of sacrifice keeping her from dying was what prevented her from living now. He often daydreamed about the life she would have led on Earth, among the plants and grasses she loved, with the survivors of the Dark Kingdom's attack. Such daydreams came to him less and less frequently as the corruption in his heart seeped deeper, but the memory of that smile of hers, and the pure innocence she radiated, always caused the corruption to shrink back.

Sometimes, when the corruption had eased back enough, he mourned the fact that he had been too successful in keeping the princess alive. Had she fallen then she would have been reborn in the present, and the Dark Kingdom would have had another Serenity and the birthright that went with her to deal with. The Queen is dead, long live the Queen, and he would have been there beside the new Queen Serenity, fighting alongside her. Such traitorous thoughts always brought the corruption rushing back in, and the pain of his thoughts being forcibly twisted always reminded him of where his loyalties belonged now.

His door opened, interrupting him from his thoughts, and General Jadeite stepped in. Jadeite noted Endymion's condition with a cursory glance. "Another episode, Endymion?"

"They are coming less frequently these days," Endymion replied.

"Indeed?" Jadeite asked. "With as often as you have them, one might start to wonder about your loyalty."

"I live to serve the Queen," Endymion responded immediately and automatically.

"Of course you do," Jadeite replied. "But often I wonder, which Queen is it you serve?"

"Is there a point to this, Jadeite, or did you just come here to insult me?" Endymion asked.

"Yes, there was something I wanted to ask you. You told us, once your full memories returned, that there was no way for Princess Serenity to have been reincarnated," Jadeite said.

Endymion nodded. "She was still alive when the Queen's spell sent the guardians forward. I made sure of that, even at the cost of my own life."

"Is it possible she might have died anyway? Could she have taken her own life after you died, or been killed by a stray youma?" Jadeite asked.

Endymion couldn't figure out why he was being interrogated again now, but shrugged and answered the question anyway. "My last moments were with her, and I made her promise to live for both of us. I don't think any youma got past me; I didn't sense any more in the area before my injuries finally overcame me."

"Hmph, you're no help then," said Jadeite. "Who does this Sailor Moon think she is, then? An imposter?"

'Sailor Moon?' thought Endymion. The moon had no guardian besides Queen Serenity herself. He supposed it was possible for there to be a Sailor Moon, if either Queen Serenity or Princess Serenity were reincarnated. But Queen Serenity was the one that cast the reincarnation spell and had to be alive herself to do it, and Princess Serenity lived on. "Describe her," he said.

"Long red hair tied back in a pigtail, blue eyes, short, busty, and packs one hell of a punch," said Jadeite. "She also has a bit of an attitude, thinking she was in a position to 'pass judgement' on me."

Endymion frowned. "What, no 'love and justice' speeches?"

"She didn't say as much directly, no, but she did seem to like to hear the sound of her own voice," Jadeite replied.

Endymion's frown deepened. The description was right, but the Princess Serenity he knew wouldn't know how to throw a punch if her life depended on it. The girl did love to hear herself give speeches, but they were always about friendship, love, and justice. Something didn't quite add up. "I need to see her."

Jadeite shook his head. "No, you don't, and you will not. Bringing this imposter in is my responsibility, and we don't need you suddenly developing a sentimental side."

"You're not going to stop me, Jadeite." Endymion said.

"I don't have to. The girl gave me her identity... not just her name, but how she identifies herself... and I still can't scry her. At first I was getting this black-haired boy sitting on a train, but now I don't even get that much when I try; I get nothing. So unless you know of any other ways to track the Moon Princess, imposter or not..." Jadeite said, and let the implication dangle.

Endymion opened his mouth to retort, but thought better of what he was about to say. Jadeite couldn't scry the girl, so he was trying to trick Endymion into doing his work for him so he could take credit for it. Instead, Endymion shook his head. "No. I'm afraid I don't," he responded.

"Well, no matter," Jadeite said, and shrugged. "This imposter has proven to wield at least some measure of Queen Serenity's powers, so chances are good she is using the Silver Crystal or has some connection to it. When we bring her in, our plans to resurrect Metallia will be realized. Perhaps then, we'll give the pretty little doll that resembles your princess to you."

Endymion had started to growl at Jadeite and was getting ready to attack him, when searing pain lanced through his skull and he collapsed, holding his head. He gritted his teeth to hold in his scream; even in as much pain as he was in he didn't want Jadeite to see his weakness.

Jadeite watched Endymion impassively and sniffed. "You're still a traitorous dog. Enjoy your episode. I'll find this imposter without you," he said and left, closing the door behind him.

Endymion finally released his scream once he was sure Jadeite would be out of hearing range, feeling the corruption burn through his mind. It ate through any thoughts of betraying the Dark Kingdom, leaving only thoughts of loyalty to Queen Beryl. It destroyed any feelings of compassion or love that he had held on to, and left only hatred and disdain for his fellow humans. When the corruption finally finished with him, he uncurled from the ball he had formed on the floor and stood.

He felt a comfortable numbness, and called up the smiling image of the Princess from that part of his heart the corruption couldn't touch. "Princess Serenity," he said. "Imposter or not, I have to see her."

* * *

AN: This is not the Author's Note you're looking for. You can go about your business. Move along.

Star wars joke aside, this chapter came in at 6500 words. Still longer than the average, but the average still seems to be increasing.

This chapter didn't move the story very far, instead focusing on Ranma's further development. She seems to be coming to somewhat of an understanding of herself, but she still has farther to go. Unfortunately for Jadeite, this bit of introspection changed how Ranma identifies herself and ruined his plans, and now he has to go with Plan B. What is plan B? We'll find out soon, as long as something else doesn't happen to screw that up too.

I was considering putting in the scene where Jadeite's scrying mirror exploded while he was trying to scry Ranma, but in the end I couldn't wedge it in there anywhere it really fit, so I had to leave it out. Of course, he wouldn't admit to something like that happening to Endymion, but I'm sure Nephrite got a good laugh out of watching it happen. More on that in future chapters.

In the month of December, I received 7070 views to Millennial Panic, from 2453 visitors. The only month I received more visitors or views to Millennial Panic was in July, when its first three chapters were released. This means something. I haven't quite decided what it means, exactly, but I can only hope it means Millennial Panic is becoming more popular. We'll see how January turns out.


	8. Chapter 7

Ranma cursed the weather as she jumped down from the roof of the rail car she had taken from Nerima to Juuban. "It's always raining," she said. This time, though, the problem wasn't because the rain forced her to change from guy to girl if she was caught out in it. She needed to change anyway before she arrived at the Ainos. The problem was that the rain and clouds made it seem to get darker faster, and she was going to be late getting back.

She sighed as she cut through a park on her way to the Aino home. "So much for getting back before it gets dark. Mrs. Aino is going to be mad," she said to no one in particular.

"I'd say Mrs. Aino is the least of your problems right now," said a voice, and she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She dodged to the side a fraction of a second before a blade intersected her previous position. "World Shaking!" the voice called out, and Ranma jumped high to avoid the near-point-blank attack.

The action was not missed by other pedestrians, and several of them screamed. "The senshi are attacking people now! Run for your lives! Call the police!" By the time Ranma landed from her high jump the civilians were scattering, and within moments she was alone with her attacker.

"Are you crazy?!" Ranma asked her attacker, Sailor Uranus. "You could have killed me!"

"That's the point now, isn't it?" said another voice from behind her. "Of course, if you give up your transformation item, we might go easy on you."

"You want the brooch? You two ARE crazy," Ranma tossed over her shoulder to Sailor Neptune. "You can't use it, and me not having it will make it a little hard to help you fight the Dark Kingdom."

Uranus's attack was quick and brutal, but missed Ranma by a wide margin. "Don't talk as if you're one of us, you imposter. Stop pretending you're Princess Serenity, and give up the transformation item!"

Ranma shook her head, dodged to the side from another attack from Uranus's sword and prepared to run, but motion out of the corner of her eye made her stop and she was cut off by a Deep Submerge attack from Neptune that would have hit her if she hadn't hesitated. Then Uranus was on her again, attacking her with a flurry of punches and kicks.

Ranma noticed that Neptune was constantly positioning herself to cut her off if she tried to run, while keeping just distant enough that she had time to prepare for an attack if she came at her instead. The only other way out was through Uranus. A grim, determined look settled onto Ranma's face as she decided on her course of action. "Okay then, you two. If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you're going to get, but you're not getting the brooch," she said, as distant sirens started to wail.

* * *

Mrs. Aino looked out the window, and sighed. Ranma was late. She thought she had made it clear to Ranma that she was to be back by dark. "Minako, dear, are you sure she was going to come back?" she asked her daughter.

"Don't worry, mom. She just has to pick up her things from Nerima, and she'll be back. She told me to let you know she might be a little late, and it's darker than it should be now because of the rain," Minako said.

"I suppose you're right," said Mrs. Aino. "Still, I worry..."

The sound of knocking interrupted the conversation, and Minako rushed to the door. "See? That's her! I told you she'd be back," she said.

When Minako opened the door, however, she wasn't greeted by the sight of Ranma, but rather by two men wearing the uniforms of the Juuban Police Department. "May we speak with the head of the house?" one of them asked.

"The head of the house?" Minako asked uncertainly, her mind racing to figure out why two police officers would be at her door. They couldn't possibly know about...

"Can we see your father?" the other one asked.

Mrs. Aino stepped up behind her daughter where the police officers could see her through the doorway. "My husband is out on business, is there something we can help you with?" she asked.

"A young lady was admitted to the Juuban Hospital's emergency ward in critical condition an hour ago. We were hoping you could help us locate her parents or guardians. She wasn't carrying any identification, but she had this on her," the lead officer said, and held out a piece of paper to Mrs. Aino.

Minako snatched it and looked at it. It was the paper she had written her address on and given to Ranma the evening before. Her trepidation over the officers possibly knowing her senshi identity quickly gave way to worry for her Flower-chan."I gave this to her! It's Ranma!" she said, and shared a troubled look with her mother.

"She's currently staying with us," said Mrs. Aino. "What happened to her?"

"We believe she was attacked by some of the Sailor Senshi. At least one of the senshi was using an edged weapon like a knife or sword, and she was admitted to emergency surgery to close multiple deep wounds from the weapon used. She was also diagnosed as having several cracked or broken ribs, and severe bruising covering multiple parts of her body."

Minako's eyes widened as she heard the extent of the injuries, and she had to cover a gasp. Uranus wouldn't, would she? "Mom, we have to go see her! We have to go to the hospital, right now!"

"Of course we will, Dear. Get your coat," Mrs Aino said, and Minako rushed to her room.

'Oh, Flower-chan, please be okay,' she thought to herself. She never should have let Ranma go alone.

* * *

At the hospital, Minako was almost literally crawling up the walls while she waited. The nurse refused to let anyone in to see Ranma, and wouldn't explain why. When the door to Ranma's room finally opened two men exited, and one of them nodded to the nurse. Both of the men were foreigners, one of them a taller man with dark skin, and the other a shorter, younger man who looked to be american. The nurse smiled in response to the older man's nod, and left to make her rounds.

The two men turned their attention to Mrs. Aino, and the older dark skinned man spoke. "Mrs. Aino, I presume," he asked in an american accent, and she nodded. "I am Detective Murtaugh, and this is my partner, Detective Riggs. We're with L.A.P.D., homicide department, and we have some questions for you and your daughter."

Minako wrung her hands together, but couldn't contain herself anymore. "Is Ranma alright? Can I see her?" she asked.

The two men looked at each other, one shrugged, and the other sighed. "I can see you're very close to the victim," Murtaugh said. "Ranma has made a remarkable recovery for such a short period of rest, but she's still very hurt. The doctors have cleared her for visitors, as long as you don't do anything to aggravate her injuries. You can see her, but we do have some questions for you before you leave the hospital."

Minako rushed in to the room to see Ranma, and found her in her bed with the back inclined to support her in the sitting position. There was another nurse in the room going about checking the equipment Ranma was hooked to.

Minako fought to keep the tears from falling from her eyes. "Ranma!" she exclaimed, and rushed over to her, only to have the nurse interpose a hand between her and the girl on the bed.

The nurse shook her head. "You'll hurt her. No hugging, but there's nothing wrong with talking to her."

Ranma rolled her eyes from on the bed. "Come on, I told you. I've had worse than this in training, I'll be fine in a few days."

The nurse shook her head again. "No hugging, not with your ribs the way they are. I have other patients to check on, but when I get back you two had better not have done anything more energetic than a hand squeeze, or I'll send her out. Clear?"

Both girls nodded. "Clear," They said at the same time, neither of them wanting Minako to be sent from the room. The nurse nodded back, then left the room muttering something about 'overly energetic teenage girls' before the door closed.

The two girls looked at each other. Minako spoke first. "I'm so glad you're alright. When the police showed up and told us about your injuries..."

Ranma scoffed. "What, this? I'll be good as new in a week, tops," she said, scratching at the bandages around her torso.

"A week? But your injuries-" Minako started.

"Are nothing worse than anything I received on my training trip with pops," Ranma interrupted. "I heal fast, even something like a little cracked rib isn't going to keep me down for long."

"If you say so," said Minako dubiously. "I'm just glad you're okay. Did you get what you needed from Nerima?"

Ranma sighed. "No. Pops made off with my pack and disappeared. Uranus and Neptune ruined my clothes when they attacked me, I'm afraid this hospital gown is all I own now." She looked around for any recording devices, before continuing. "They took my transformation brooch," she said, her voice low.

Minako frowned. "They're not going to get away with this, that's for sure. How do they think we're going to help the youma's victims without your help? We've been waiting for something like that for a long time," she said, her voice equally low.

Ranma shrugged, and winced as the movement caused a twinge in her side. "She seems completely convinced I'm an imposter. Maybe she thinks that if I can use the brooch, anyone can."

Minako's jaw dropped open. "That's stupid, she should know better," she said.

"Yeah, well, I get the feeling that Uranus is just a little unhinged right now," Ranma replied. "I'll deal with her personally. Ranma Saotome doesn't lose," she said, then winced at her condition. "At least, not twice," she finished lamely.

Minako shook her head. "If you think I'm going to stand by and let you get your ass handed to you again, you're as crazy as Uranus. You're one of us, and the Senshi take care of their own," she said. She took in Ranma's condition again and grimaced. "Well, most of us do, anyway. Uranus will be taken care of."

Ranma started to protest that Uranus was her problem, but the look in Minako's eyes made her reconsider. She remembered that Princess Venus was the only one of the princesses in the Silver Millennium that could make her back down when she wanted to badly enough, and swallowed her protestation. "Alright, have it your way. But I'm not done with Uranus yet."

The door opening and another nurse coming in to check on Ranma interrupted that line of conversation. The nurse addressed Minako as she came in. "Visiting hours are almost over, we're going to have to ask you to wrap things up. You can come and see her again tomorrow," the nurse said.

Minako nodded and turned back to Ranma. "Are you going to be alright here?"

Ranma waved her off. "I'll be fine, I told you. Besides, the worst thing that can happen to me here in the hospital is I'll die of boredom," she said, before glancing at the nurse. "And I'm pretty sure they probably have some kind of prescription for that, too."

The nurse grinned before answering. "We have a few ways of dealing with that, yes. We have various flavors of 'sleeping pills,' such as any of the textbooks used by any of the local schools so you can keep up on your homework. Barring that, we have a small library of popular novels you can borrow as long as you're here."

Ranma grimaced in distaste at the mention of school textbooks, but turned her head to Minako. "See, they've got it figured out," she said, before taking in the mock-worried look on Minako's face. "Oh, get out of here, I'll be okay."

Minako's face broke into a grin. "Alright, you'd better be. You still owe me an explanation for last night, after all. Good night, Flower-chan," she said, and headed for the door.

"Good night... Heart-chan," Ranma said, and settled herself back onto her pillow as the nurse worked the controls to straighten out the bed.

The white, younger detective that had talked to her entered the room, and the nurse looked at him accusingly. "I just forgot my pen," he said, motioning to the nightstand next to Ranma's bed. The nurse picked up the pen, and handed it to him. He took it with a grateful smile. "I like this pen," he said, and left.

Ranma closed her eyes, and ran the fight with Uranus and Neptune back through her head. She decided that the fight hadn't been completely one-sided, but the Sailor Transformation had given Uranus tremendous strength and durability. She remembered landing numerous blows that Uranus had just shrugged off, while any hit Uranus landed made her feel like she had been hit by a truck. She was faster than Uranus, but only just. Add the fire support Neptune was providing and that she had to constantly watch her back to make sure Neptune didn't nail her with one of her attacks, and the fact she was more skilled than Uranus didn't matter as much. She knew that she wasn't going to be able to actually defeat either of the Senshi without her own transformation, but the two hadn't allowed her the time she needed to transform herself. On the other hand, one on one she was sure she could have found a way to lock Uranus in a submission hold, or pin her in a way she could use leverage to keep her from using her strength to break free.

As she let her mind drift off to sleep, Ranma decided that one day, sometime after she had healed, she and Uranus were going to have a rematch. Next time they fought, it was going to be on her terms.

Outside the door, Riggs and Murtaugh watched as Mrs. Aino and her daughter left. They had let the younger girl go without much questioning, stating that Mrs. Aino had answered most of their questions to their satisfaction. Riggs turned to his partner. "So, what do you think?"

"She covers it well, but the elder Aino definitely knows something is up with her daughter. I think she knows what it is, too, but won't admit to it. It's possible the girls could be with those... what were they called... youma, but have her under some kind of control," Murtaugh replied. "Since the Senshi seem to be bitter enemies with these youma creatures, that could be why they attacked the girl."

Riggs shook his head. "Nah. From what I heard, that's definitely not the case. The girls don't have any ties to the youma. Not unless the Senshi themselves do."

Murtaugh looked at him sharply. "And how do you know that?" he asked. Riggs took an earpiece out of his ear, and grinned. Murtaugh groaned. "You know we're going to get in enough trouble as it is without adding spying on foreign nationals and theft of department property to the list of charges."

Riggs shrugged. "That's if we get caught. No harm, no foul."

Murtaugh sighed and tried to remember why he was going along with his partner in this. They were supposed to be on vacation, not poking their noses in Japanese Police business.

_Riggs and Murtaugh sat in a cross-legged position with their eyes closed in what their host had called a 'Zen Garden'. Nothing happened for long moments, until Riggs's eye twitched. And twitched. And twitched again. Finally he opened his eyes and turned to his partner. "I'm **bored**," he said._

"_Ssh," said Murtaugh, without turning, opening his eyes, or otherwise moving._

"_Don't you 'Ssh' me. This is boring," persisted Riggs._

"_This was your idea, so settle down and shut up," said Murtaugh. "Personally, I find it relaxing."_

"_That was before I knew I'd be spending the afternoon sitting doing nothing. Mister Miyagi is supposed to be this kickass martial artist, not some... some... sand gardener!"_

"_Wait, hold on," said Murtaugh, an expression of horror starting to creep across his face. "You mean to tell me you just came up to this random Japanese zen garden and asked the proprietor to teach you, because you've seen Karate Kid one too many times? I thought you knew this guy!"_

"_Well how was I supposed to know the Mister Miyagi in the phone book wasn't the one that could teach us some kickass moves? Come on, let's go find something else to do," Riggs said._

"_Like what?" Asked Murtaugh._

_Suddenly, the sound of distant explosions sounded through the area. A shadow flitted across the ground from something passing overhead, and looking up they saw the retreating back of a girl in orange and white, wearing a VERY short skirt, as she hopped from the roof of one house to the next heading in the direction of the sounds of the explosions._

_After she passed, the two partners looked at each other. "Well, we could investigate what that was all about," said Riggs._

_Murtaugh thought about that for a moment, before deciding 'What the hell?' "Sure, fine, I'm getting bored too," he admitted._

_The two of them set out to find the source of the disturbances, and what they found there was a bizarre sight. Eight girls, each one dressed similar to the one that had flown overhead, were battling what looked like an oversized lizard, if lizards could stand on two legs. The girls were fighting using energy blasts, and the creature occasionally returned fire with a blast of its own. After a while, the shorter girl with the polearm released an attack that seemed to drown out all sound in the vicinity, yet was eerily quiet. The attack sliced the lizard creature clean in half, and each half disintegrated into dust, which further disintegrated into nothing. The girls then left, and minutes later the distant sounds of sirens approaching started up. _

_Riggs looked at Murtaugh, and Murtaugh didn't like the look he saw in his eyes. "No. No, we're not going to investigate that giant creature. We're on vacation, and out of our jurisdiction. We're not going to stick our noses in this. This is none of our business, you understand? None. Of. Our. Business," Murtaugh told Riggs._

His partner would not be dissuaded, and they had ended up discovering that the giant creatures, called youma, attacked frequently. The girls were a local band of what could only be termed as heroes, fighting the youma wherever they came. The youma did something to its victims that usually put them in a coma if they even survived, and the Senshi worked to keep casualties to a minimum.

With an effort, Murtaugh brought his mind back to the present. "So what did you find out then?" he asked.

"If the two girls aren't senshi themselves, they're at least very close to them," he said, then paused, reviewing something in his mind. "In fact, if the girls aren't themselves senshi, I'll be very surprised. The attack on the victim was because of some in-fighting among the senshi."

Murtaugh frowned. "Trouble in the ranks, huh. Well, if you're sure they're senshi and not with the youma, there's nothing more for us to learn here."

Riggs nodded. "Right. Let's get out of here before the hospital figures out we're not actually supposed to be here."

* * *

Michiru watched her lover with concern, as Haruka intently studied the transformation brooch they had taken from the imposter. The silence between them stretched on for a time, until Michiru couldn't stand it anymore and had to ask the question that had been on her mind since the two of them had confronted the Serenity imposter in the park. "Were you really going to kill her? I mean, just threatening her is one thing, but actually doing it..."

Haruka looked up from studying the brooch, and left it on the desk she was sitting at to give her lover a hug. "Of course not. If she had just given up the brooch without a fight, we wouldn't have even had to hurt her."

"But we hurt her so badly. And you were using the sword..." Michiru leaned into the hug, but held herself back somewhat.

Haruka gave her lover a squeeze before releasing the hug, holding her at arm's length and looking into her eyes. "If she's a dark kingdom plant, then death isn't good enough for her. If she's an innocent, then we're doing her a favor by releasing her from Pluto's grasp. Either way, her death isn't our fault."

Michiru looked away. Haruka's rationalization made sense, but she still didn't think it felt right to hurt the poor girl so much. "The ends justify the means, right? But what are we fighting for anymore? The Moon Princess is gone, she never reincarnated. The Dark Kingdom is winning. You have to know that as well as I do. We won't be able to continue to fight them, at this rate. What are we trying to do anymore?"

Haruka returned to the brooch she had left on the desk and picked it up. "That's what this is for. If nothing else, we can't let the Dark Kingdom win. We just need to figure whether this came from the Dark Kingdom, or from Pluto. If it came from the Dark Kingdom we need to destroy it. If it came from Pluto we can use it."

"Pluto isn't going to be happy about this..." started Michiru.

Haruka scowled. "I really don't care if Pluto's happy. I'm not going to be led by an imposter princess planted by that meddling time bitch. I'd rather die than let Pluto have her way on this, and I'd rather see Saturn end everything than let the Dark Kingdom win!" She punctuated her last point rather sharply, bringing the brooch that she'd been holding in her hand down on the table with a bang. Startled, Michiru only watched as Haruka got up, stalked past her and grabbed a set of keys off of a hook next to the front door as she left the house.

Michiru could only look on, troubled, as a high performance sports car drove off. She wasn't worried about Haruka getting into a wreck; she knew from long experience that her lover was a master behind the wheel, and chances of an accident were low. On the other hand, Haruka was going out for her drives more and more often. Haruka was falling apart, and Michiru knew it. She only wished she knew of something more she could do to help her love. For now, all she could do was care for Hotaru, and be there to support Haruka. With that in mind, she went to check in on Hotaru.

* * *

Endymion stood in the rain at a busy intersection, trying to follow a memory of a sensation. Shortly after leaving the portal from the Dark Kingdom, he had caught a sense of danger, that the princess was in trouble. Before he could follow that sense to its source, though, it had cut off, leaving him trying to follow the fleeting sensation before it passed completely.

His mind raced over all the possibilities of how Princess Serenity had been reincarnated in this time. He had made sure that she would live, back in the silver millennium. How had he failed? Had a youma somehow escaped his senses? What could have gone wrong?

Did it really matter how Princess Serenity was killed? What mattered is that she was, then she was reincarnated, and now that she was here she could-

Endymion cut that traitorous line of thought off before it could trigger the corruption once again. He knew that even thinking something like that would cause another episode, and that was the last thing he needed right now. Everything could be worked out when he found her.

The trail had gone cold, however, and so he found some shelter from the rain in an empty house that looked like it had seen better days, and settled in to wait.

* * *

Jadeite stood before his mirror, and a grin almost formed on his face. Almost. The image the mirror showed was not that of his own reflection, but an image of Prince Endymion. That fool was playing right into his hands. Soon, he would locate the Princess or her imposter, and then Jadeite could not only bring her before Queen Beryl, but also reveal Endymion for the traitorous dog he was. It was almost enough to assuage his pride after his recent failures.

However, it still troubled him that he couldn't figure out whether this Sailor Moon was an imposter or not. According to Endymion, the Princess could not have been reincarnated in this time, but here was a girl that seemed to wield the full measure of the powers of a senshi, and was linked to the Moon. The only ones that could wield that power were the Moon Queen and her Princess. Perhaps the Silver Crystal could bestow that kind of power, but the only ones that had access to it...

"Oh, I see you've already replaced that mirror. With another one? Don't you know how to scry with anything else?"

Jadeite frowned as his thought process was interrupted. "Nephrite," he nearly snarled as he turned toward his rival. "What are you doing in my chambers?"

"Such a cold welcome, Jadeite. Do we not have an agreement?" Nephrite smirked.

"I don't remember our 'agreement' allowing you free access to my private chambers. I will ask you again, what are you doing here?" Jadeite asked, carefully keeping his anger out of his tone.

"Such a short temper as always, Jadeite," Nephrite responded. "I was mostly looking for amusement, and thought you might be so kind as to provide another show like earlier. I was especially amused when your last mirror exploded, and was hoping you would do an encore."

Jadeite clenched his fist to keep himself from forming an energy ball to fire at his rival. That insufferable smirk was still on Nephrite's face. "If you have nothing of importance to do in here, then I suggest you leave. Now."

"Have it your way, Jadeite," Nephrite said with an exaggerated sigh. "I just thought you might like to know that our Queen has grown impatient with your bungling, and has allowed me the opportunity to deal with the Senshi. Some certain intelligence you discovered will be of great help in that. I'm sure I can put it to better use than you have."

Jadeite fumed. "You dare-"

Nephrite cut him off. "Yes, 'I dare'. I know, and I'm sure you do as well, that the Queen does not abide failure, and you've seen more than your fair share of failures recently. We are all expendable. Your failures just make you more so."

Jadeite gritted his teeth. "I had plans for that 'intelligence' you speak of, and I'm certain I did not give specifics to the queen."

"Oh, you had plans for it? Perhaps you should have kept them to yourself. The humans have developed this cute little adage, I believe it went something like 'the walls have ears'..." Nephrite laughed. "You really should kick that habit of talking to yourself in an empty room. It's so cliché, it's funny."

Jadeite scowled at Nephrite's form as it faded away, leaving a fading echo of Nephrite's laughter. With his mood thoroughly soured and nothing better to do at the moment, he turned back to the mirror which still showed an image of Endymion taking refuge in an abandoned house. He would bring the silver crystal before the Queen, and this success would wipe away his failures. Nephrite could play his little gambit, but Jadeite would win the prize. It was only a matter of time.

* * *

Yes, I realize I'm almost half a month late. Better late than never, right? My beta readers disappeared on me for a while, and I'm still struggling to keep connected with them.

A thank you goes out to uragaaru, weebee, Aikoyu Saotome, and the readers at fukufics for beta reading. You guys are all awesome.

Obligatory word count report: At this point, I've talked about the word count at the end of enough chapters, I've decided I'm just going to do so at the end of every chapter from here in. This chapter came in at 4750 words. A little shorter than the usual, but my chapters have been running a little long for a few chapters. It evens out.

End of the second day, and it feels like the calm before the storm. At least it does for me, since I know what's coming. I don't know if I've really conveyed that sense here well, but if I have, great. If not... well, take it from me. This is the calm before the storm. That said, I've really failed as a writer if I have to explain something here in an author's note, rather than telling it in the story.

~Tuatara: This isn't the Nabiki you're used to. At the beginning of the series, both in the anime and in the manga, Nabiki was interested, even excited, about the prospect of meeting Ranma... right up until she found out about the curse. By the time she had had time to have any second thoughts about not taking the engagement just over the curse, Ranma was engaged to Akane and the whole point was moot. This Nabiki has had plenty of time to have second, third, and fourth thoughts about the engagement, and has decided she wants to try anyway. I may have had to fabricate some backstory here, but from what we all know of Nabiki, what I've come up with is not outside of possibility. If you just think it's too out of character for her to bare her soul so much in front of Ranma... well, tough. This Nabiki has decided she's going to be honest and forthright with her possible fiance. Mostly because underhandedness and deceit are what killed any prospects she might have had at school, and she knows it.

The butterfly effect is going at full strength in my story. Small changes to earlier events can cause massive changes to later events. A Ranma arriving male to the Tendos and not having the chance to initially bond with Akane before the question of the engagement comes up opens the door to the possibility of an interested Nabiki taking it up.

~Compucles: Akane may have been taught the basics of Anything Goes at one point, but I think at this point she's gone so far without any instruction that whatever style she's using can rightfully be called her own. She would probably need a lot of retraining for her style to shift into something that could be considered part of Anything Goes.

To the multiple people that say Akane is being too cold: I have to admit I didn't think that one out too thoroughly. But hear me out here. Here's this guy she doesn't know from Jack. He shows up at her house one day, and she finds out that she or one of her sisters is supposed to be engaged to him. Then she later finds out about the curse. Akane logic dictates that a guy who does anything to a girl is a pervert, and this guy can turn into a girl and do whatever he wants to her body. So at this point, Akane is going to be at least on guard, and possibly protective of her sisters. Then she sees Nabiki and this guy _kissing_. I think this would be enough to put Akane on full alert against this pervert that's trying to make moves on one of her sisters... She might even be thinking that he used the engagement to coerce Nabiki into kissing him.


	9. Chapter 8

"_Hi, I'm Princess Venus. Wanna play?"_

_Serenity looked up from the crystal she was shaping into a flower to see another girl there in her room. The girl had long, blonde hair, and didn't look any older than her own age; she was only 7 earth cycles old herself. "Who are you? How did you get in my room?" she asked._

"_I just told you, I'm Princess Venus. Your mom let me in here. So, you wanna play?" The blonde replied._

_She looked down at the crystal in her hands, which had lapsed from the flower shape she was coaxing it into back into its natural crystal shape. "She did? But I'm supposed to be... I mean I can't..."_

"_Don't worry about it! You've got to relax sometimes! At least, that's what my mom always says. If your mom let me in here, I'm sure it's okay if you stop doing... um... what are you doing?" _

_The girl swiped the crystal from her hands and started examining it. "Hey!" she cried out indignantly. "That's mine!" _

"_Ooooohhh, it's a moon crystal! These are really, really rare! Hey, look at what I can do with these!" Venus scrunched up her face in concentration, and the crystal slowly changed its shape. After a few moments, it had rearranged itself into the shape of a heart. "See? Cool, huh?"_

_Serenity felt tears start to sting her eyes. "Aww, you ruined it... now I've got to make another one. It's really hard." She pulled another moon rock out of a box beside her and started concentrating on it._

_Venus's eyes widened. "You can MAKE moon crystals?!"_

_She nodded. "Uh huh. Princess Pluto says it's good magic practice. I got to practice my magic lots 'cuz I'm not very good at it."_

_Venus watched as, over the course of about a minute, the rock changed color and texture, becoming smoother, its edges more sharply defined until the irregular lump had become another crystal. Serenity slumped, exhausted._

"_Cooooooool!" exclaimed the blonde princess. "You've GOT to teach me how to do that!"_

"_I can't. Mommy says it's something only we can do, and I can't do it very well," she said. She was having a hard time catching her breath, it felt like something was wrapped around her chest._

"_Aww, that's no fun. Hey, this one's in the shape of a flower!" Venus skipped over to where one of her old crystals was on display, one she had successfully coaxed into a shape similar to an earth flower she had seen in a picture once._

_Serenity couldn't catch her breath. Something was keeping her from breathing properly. "Hey, are you okay?" Venus asked, but it sounded distant, indistinct. She tried to draw a breath to answer, but she couldn't get any air. Something was squeezing her too tight. She needed-_

-air! Ranma sat up in her hospital bed, struggling with the bandages around her chest. She couldn't breathe, she had to get them off!

A nurse saw her wake and sit up, and rushed to her. "No, no! Stay down! You'll hurt yourself!" She took in Ranma's condition, and guessed at the problem. "Easy! Just breathe. The bandages aren't that tight, you can breathe."

Ranma stopped struggling, and focused on breathing. As she took a few shuddering breaths, she realized that the bandages weren't any tighter than they were when she went to sleep, and it wasn't hard to breathe with them on. "Th-thanks," she managed to gasp out as she caught her breath. She had the presence of mind to check the clock; it was 7:45.

"No problem, sweetie. I know it's hard to get used to sleeping with something like that on, but if you take them off you could just hurt yourself worse," the nurse said.

"Yeah, I know. Sorry about that. I just had a weird dream," Ranma said. Now that her panic was starting to subside, she could focus on that... dream? Memory? Dream of a memory? She remembered that time now. It was her first meeting with Princess Venus, back in the Silver Millenium. Or rather, Princess Serenity's first meeting with Princess Venus. Was there really any distinction?

"Well, I heard something that might take your mind off of it, for a little while. You know those outlaws, the Sailor Senshi? The radio said that three of them were just arrested."

Ranma's eyes widened. Three Senshi, arrested? "Wait, what?"

* * *

_Earlier_

Haruka and Hotaru were sitting at the table, eating breakfast, while Michiru cooked. Hotaru had woken up that morning completely revitalized, and Michiru had made an omelet breakfast to celebrate.

"I'm really sorry. I tried, but I couldn't..." Hotaru started.

"Ssshhh..." Michiru interrupted. "We're just happy you're alright. I was so scared that... that you were going to..."

Hotaru tried to fend off Michiru's hug as she came from behind, but failed. "Aw, Michiru! I told you, I'm fine now. I have all my energy back, thanks to Sailor Moon..."

Haruka slammed her fist down on the table, startling the other two and knocking a glass of milk over, spilling it. "It's NOT thanks to that imposter. It's her brooch. All that power is in her brooch, and now we just need to give it to someone else that we control."

Hotaru blinked in confusion. "You can't give away a Senshi's transformation item. It's linked to the Senshi."

Haruka shook her head. "Pluto found a way to give Serenity's brooch to an imposter, so we're going to do the same. That imposter won't be a problem, we've already taken care of her."

Michiru released Hotaru from her hug and walked over to Haruka. "So it's the real thing then?"

Haruka nodded. "It's the real one, no doubt about it. I remembered what it looked like in the Silver Millennium last night, and this one is a perfect match."

Hotaru gaped. "Taken care of... you hurt Sailor Moon and took away her brooch? Why...?"

Haruka and Michiru looked at each other, realizing they were going to need to explain to Hotaru what was happening. "That Sailor Moon is an imposter planted by Sailor Pluto," started Haruka. "I am NOT going to be led around by someone planted by her, so we're going to choose someone else. We had to rough up that imposter of Pluto's a bit to get the brooch, but now that we have it..."

Hotaru couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Sailor Moon can't be an imposter. It's impossible!" she said.

Haruka's expression darkened. "Pluto found a way, and so will I. Now that the imposter is taken care of and we have the brooch, we can take our time."

"That... that's stupid. You're being stupid!" Hotaru started. She couldn't believe that Michiru and Haruka had hurt Sailor Moon. Didn't they realize that was Princess Serenity they were hurting? "It's impossible!"

"Young lady..." Michiru started in a warning tone.

Hotaru ignored it. Michiru and Haruka had hurt Sailor Moon. They had hurt Princess Serenity. She remembered Princess Serenity fondly from the Silver Millennium, the girl was never anything but nice to anyone she met. "That's Princess Serenity! Nobody can be a Senshi if they don't have a Star Seed. Don't you remember? We're the only ones that can use our transformations. Nobody else can! Nobody! Sailor Moon isn't an imposter! She can't be! She healed me, and all those other people too! If... if you hurt her... you... you just hurt Sennie, you meanies!"

Hotaru stormed from the table and grabbed her backpack. "I'm going to school. I'll walk myself."

"School was canceled for today. Your school is being repaired, and they haven't figured out where to send the extra students yet," Michiru said.

"Then I'll visit Rei," Hotaru said hotly, and tossed her backpack aside. "I don't want to be here right now."

"I'll drive you-" Haruka started.

"I don't want you to!" Hotaru snapped, and stomped toward the door. As she left, the slamming of the door echoed in the shocked silence that followed.

"Well, I've never seen her like that befo-" Michiru started, but was interrupted by a scream.

"Hotaru!" both Michiru and Haruka exclaimed. They looked at each other and nodded. Each grabbing their respective wands, they quickly transformed and ran for the door.

As the door opened, they were greeted by the sight of a group of police cars sitting in front of their estate. A pair of officers had Hotaru in handcuffs and were leading her to a squad car. Several officers noticed them, and they found themselves with numerous guns trained on them. One spoke through a megaphone. "Sailor Senshi, you are under arrest. Drop any weapons you have and come peacefully or we will be forced to open fire."

Michiru and Haruka looked at each other, the same thoughts running through their heads. They didn't know if their transformations could protect them from bullets, and the number of weapons pointed at them represented a real threat; they might be able to avoid most of the gunfire with their Senshi forms' boosted speed, but they probably wouldn't be able to avoid all of it. On top of all that, there was Hotaru to consider. They were not going to let their ward stay in police custody, alone. The two Senshi dropped their transformations, put down their wands, and raised their hands in the air, allowing themselves to be taken into custody.

* * *

Sailor Pluto stood at the Time Gates, stunned, as she reviewed the events of the previous night. How had so much happened while she was sleeping?

She had just finished compiling a number of key events into her Projected Line of Thought device and had been planning to ask Ranma's permission to show them to the other Senshi... after she had received some much needed sleep to recover from such an exhausting exercise. When she fell asleep, the last thing she had seen was Ranma speaking with that Nabiki girl. Everything was going fine, nothing looked like it needed her direct attention or intervention.

When she woke up, Ranma was in the hospital and the Outers had all been arrested by the police. How had the police discovered the identities of the Outers? It should have been impossible! Discovering why Ranma was in the hospital was much easier, and brought a scowl to the usually stoic Senshi's face. It was well past time for her and Haruka to have a talk. She supposed it was her fault, for waiting until Haruka had had time to recover from the shock of her parents' death, but now it looked like she had waited until it was too late.

She checked in on Ranma first. Staring at the ceiling. Was she...? Yes, she was actually counting the ceiling tiles. Pluto suppressed a chuckle. A little boredom wasn't going to hurt the Princess, and if she was that bored, there probably wasn't any need to worry about her condition. That left the Outers to worry about. She focused on Hotaru. The younger girl seemed absolutely miserable in her holding cell at the police station. She didn't see Haruka or Michiru there with her, didn't the police have holding cells large enough for the three of them? Ah, there they were. Hotaru was sitting about as far from them as was possible. Had something happened between the Outers? In such a place, she thought Hotaru would be seeking comfort in their company, not distancing herself from them.

The Outers couldn't stay in jail, that much was certain. The Senshi needed their firepower. She decided it was time for her to crash another one of the Inner Senshis' meetings. She only hoped that the Dark Kingdom didn't decide to attack until after this was all sorted out.

* * *

Riggs and Murtaugh couldn't believe what they were seeing on the news. Were these people crazy? "So the Japanese have these super powered heroines keeping the city safe from these monsters, and they arrest some of them. Please tell me you're not seeing the same thing I am, it feels like a bad trip," said Riggs.

Murtaugh shook his head. "I see it too, and I think that makes this whole situation that much more sinister. Think about it, we've seen nothing but bad press on the Senshi ever since we got here. I think the Senshi have been losing the war on a front they didn't even know existed. These Youma are winning on the political front."

"So what do you think then, how do we help the girls?" Riggs asked.

Murtaugh gave him a sharp look. "What do you mean, help the girls? We're way out of our jurisdiction here. This is a Japanese problem, not ours."

Riggs shook his head. "The girls are the first line of defense against these monsters, and from what we've seen, I doubt the JSDF are going to be able to handle the youma if the girls fail. Remember when we watched one of those girls get physical with a youma?"

Murtaugh nodded. A new Senshi had shown up, right when the other Senshi had been defeated, and had started physically beating on the youma. He still remembered being able to hear the impacts of the girl's strikes against the youma from a good distance away, and one of the girl's strikes in particular should have caved in the youma's skull, but the youma seemed to shrug off anything the girl could dish out. Then there was the time the girl _missed,_ and her flying kick tore a large chunk out of a nearby brick wall. "You think those energy blasts the girls have are the only way to deal with the youma?"

"Short of high explosives, yeah. After seeing that _impressive _show the other night, I don't think conventional weapons will do a damn thing. So the invincible monsters overrun Japan, what next?" Riggs asked.

Murtaugh pondered that for a moment. "If other nations see what's going on and get paranoid enough, they could nuke Japan. But if that only kills the monsters that are already here and doesn't prevent new ones from coming... You're right, this isn't just the Japanese's problem. If the Senshi fail, the whole world could be at risk."

Riggs nodded. "So, in the interest of keeping the world safe, I think we should do anything we can to help these girls. Come on, I have a plan."

* * *

Minako sat in her math class, wishing for about the hundredth time that she were anywhere else. Flower-chan in the hospital, the Outers in jail... things couldn't be going any worse for the Senshi right now, but here she was, needing to maintain her cover as a regular girl, so she had to be in school.

She worried about Ranma. The reincarnation of her Silver Millennium sister was very much a tomboy, and seemed to have a habit of getting herself into trouble. First, the night she had shown up, she had tried to take on the youma in civilian form before the Senshi even knew who she was. Ranma then showed up at her house, homeless and crying. Then, after her family took Ranma in, she got into a fight with the Outer Senshi and landed in the hospital. To be fair, only the first was Ranma's own fault, but trouble still seemed to follow the girl around.

This business with the Outers was another big worry. Uranus and Neptune had attacked Ranma. They had attacked _Princess Serenity!_ This went far beyond the grudge every Senshi knew Uranus had against Pluto, this was an outright betrayal. She would have rounded up the Inner Senshi and confronted Uranus today, but the Outers getting arrested had put a damper on that plan; it would be hard for them to have a Senshi to Senshi talk while some of them were behind prison bars.

She sighed as the responsibilities of leadership once again took their toll on her. When things went wrong, it was usually her that was expected to make everything right again. Could she even begin to make this right? Even if she could break the Outers out of prison, there was still the schism in the outer group that needed to be mended, and she had no idea how to get Uranus and Pluto to make up. Even within the Inner Senshi there was fracturing. She was aware of the fault line that divided the inner senshi into two groups: herself with Rei, and Ami with Makoto. Then they were further divided, with Makoto and Ami often coming to disagreements about some trivial problem or other, and it was sometimes weeks before the two would talk to each other again. Herself and Rei had their own share of disagreements, Rei alternately claiming that she should be the leader of the Senshi (and yet not making any attempt to take over leadership) and telling her that, as leader, she should do more to unite the group. She almost giggled at the irony; if Rei wanted to be leader, all she needed to do was step up and lead, and she would step aside to let her.

She really did wish that Rei would step up and take leadership. It has been almost a year since the Dark Kingdom started their attacks in Japan, and even after her own victory in England the Senshi have only achieved a shaky stalemate under her leadership. She almost wished none of this had been thrust on her, that she could just be a normal girl again, but one thing stopped that train of thought in its tracks.

Ranma.

She was happy that she could finally reunite with the girl that had been closer to her than any sibling could ever be. She wanted to spend some time with Ranma and get to know her again. With everything that had happened, she hadn't had any chance to spend time with her little Flower-chan. She started to daydream about what they would do together when they could get a chance: gossiping about boys, shopping, karaoke...

"Miss Aino."

She jumped as her teacher interrupted her brief daydream. "Yes, Professor?"

"Well, since it's obvious you weren't paying attention to the question, maybe you'd like to solve the problem on the board instead?" her teacher asked.

Blushing, Minako walked up to the board to solve the equation... or try to, anyway. As she looked at the equation, she wished she had even half of Ami's smarts.

* * *

Ranma sighed as she stared up at the ceiling above her hospital bed. Six hundred twenty-five and a quarter. She'd triple-checked her count, and had decided that was the correct number. She checked the time and sighed again. It was only a little after 3:00. "Great. Not even through the first day, and I'm out of things to do," she griped. She'd tried to read some of the books the hospital had available, but reading just didn't appeal to her. She'd flipped through the channels on the small TV in her room numerous times, but hadn't found anything that interested her enough to watch. She couldn't just lie around in a hospital bed, she needed to get out and exercise.

"With as much excitement as you've had in your lives, I'd have thought you would be enjoying a little peace and quiet, Princess Serenity," said a voice.

Ranma turned her head toward the source of the voice. "I'd rather be doing _anything_ besides just laying around trying to heal, Princess Pluto," she responded dryly.

The Senshi of Time chuckled. "Yes, I suppose in both lives you've been a fairly active person. More so in this life than your past one, it seems," she said.

Ranma gave her a resigned look. "You've been looking into my past. Then you probably know..."

Pluto nodded. "It's none of my business, but you need to let the other Senshi know. They'll find out eventually one way or the other, and if you've been hiding it from them it will only hurt all of you."

Ranma shook her head. "Well, you got one thing right there, at least. It is none of your business," she said, then stopped, a thought coming to her. She sighed. "No, you're right. I just don't know what to tell them, what to say. How do I even explain it to..." She cut off. She couldn't bear the thought of being rejected by the girl that she felt the closest to now, even after such a short time spent around her in this life. Her big sister, Heart-chan.

"Well, if you like, I could show the others some of your life. I'm sure they'd be sympathetic if they knew what you had to go through to get to where we are now," suggested Pluto.

Ranma shook her head. "No, this is my problem. I have to be the one to tell them."

"Don't be stubborn," said Pluto, then reconsidered her wording at Ranma's sharp look. She sighed. "I'm going to have to tell them something; Princess Venus ordered me to find out what the problem was the other night, and the last place I want to be is stuck between conflicting orders from the two of you. I've already loaded a number of choice moments into the device, all I need is your permission to show them."

Ranma sighed. If Minako was anything like Princess Venus had been, then Pluto was not going to be able to hold her off for long, if at all. "Alright, go ahead and show them whatever you have planned then," she said. As much as it galled her to have someone else fight her battles for her, she did have to admit this was one situation where it would be good to have someone on her side, and Pluto had been a diplomat before she had been a princess after all.

"Thank you, Princess. One last thing," the older Senshi said, and dropped a couple of items onto Ranma's bed. The first she recognized instantly; it was her transformation brooch. How had Pluto got a hold of it, didn't Uranus have it? Then she remembered where Uranus was and was suddenly thankful that her transformation item looked like an everyday piece of jewelry. The second she thought was a cellphone at first, but then she barely recognized it as a Silver Millennium era communicator, which she remembered the planetary guardians using to keep in contact with each other. She frowned at it for a moment. It was pink, and decorated with stars. Did everything that came from the Silver Millennium have to be so girly?

Pluto noticed the frown, and gave Ranma a quizzical look. "Is something the matter?"

Ranma shook her head. "No, nothing. I take it the others also have communicators?"

Pluto nodded. "This will help you keep in contact with the team when you get separated from them, like now. We need Sailor Moon, and with the Outers in jail we need her now more than ever."

Ranma chuckled. Pluto already considered her one of the team, but how did the other Senshi feel about it? Regardless, there was still the matter of her injuries. "I'm not really in a condition to do any fighting, and won't be for at least a few days," she admitted reluctantly.

Pluto shook her head. "The Transformation will hold everything in place, until it has time to heal the damage. I would ask you to transform now and leave this place if it wouldn't blow both your cover and Minako's; we really can't afford to have any more Senshi locked up."

Ranma nodded; the same thought had occurred to her. She frowned as she looked at the brooch. "How did you get this back from Uranus anyway," she asked. When she didn't receive an answer she looked up, but Pluto was no longer anywhere to be seen.

She started to grumble to herself about Pluto's habit of disappearing rather than answering questions, but was interrupted by the door opening and a nurse entering, followed by a doctorwho was looking at something on a clipboard. She quickly tossed the brooch and communicator into a subspace pocket without thinking, then frowned as she realized what she just did. How did she...

She didn't have any time to think about what just happened. As the doctor approached her, he looked at her and smiled. "Well, Ms. Saotome, I have to say you've made a VERY impressive recovery. Your vital signs look good, and your nurse reports your wounds are healing rapidly; at the rate you're healing, we should be able to take out your stitches in a few days rather than the usual two weeks considering the depth of your wounds. I have to say, I've never seen anyone heal so fast, it's practically a miracle of medicine. What's your secret?"

Ranma grinned. "I told you I'm a martial artist. I've had a lot of training to make myself tougher, and a side benefit is a faster metabolism and quick healing. It has something to do with having a lot more ki than a normal person."

The doctor hummed as he wrote something down on his clipboard. "Well, I'd still like to keep you in for observation one more night, but I don't see any reason why we can't release you to your family's care tomorrow... Oh, I see here you're staying with some friends." He frowned for a moment. "They're not listed as your legal guardians, but..." his frown deepened as he read something on the clipboard. "Nurse, is this the correct record? This can't be right. The Ranma Saotome on this record is male."

Ranma's heart sank into her stomach. "I can explain," she started. "It's a curse I picked up while I was traveling in China, it makes me transform into a girl under... certain conditions."

The doctor frowned at Ranma. "That's quite a far-fetched story. Do you have any way to prove it?"

Ranma sighed, resigned to the necessity of demonstrating the curse. "Can you get a couple glasses of water? One hot, one cold."

* * *

One demonstration and a rather frantic hour later, Ranma was once again laying on the hospital bed, wearing fresh stitches and bandages. The moment the hot water had hit her and she transformed into a guy every stitch in her popped, and her chest wrap nearly suffocated her. Transforming back relieved the extra pressure from the undersized chest wrap, but she spent the next hour first having her wounds restitched, and then having fresh X-Rays taken to make sure that no further damage had been done to her ribs. Once the excitement from her ill-advised transformation had died down the doctor immediately forbade her from contact with hot water, at least until her wounds healed enough to have her stitches out and her ribs were healed enough to do without the wrap. Ranma had no complaints about that; being nearly suffocated at the same time as having all her stitches pop had _hurt_.

Now the doctor was looking at her with an odd expression. "Well, I wouldn't have believed this foolishness about Chinese curses and gender transformation if I hadn't seen it for myself." Ranma could only give a wan grin at that. She would never have believed it either, if she hadn't experienced it. "After that, I definitely want to keep you in for observation overnight. If your recovery is still progressing nicely tomorrow, we'll release you to your friends the Ainos in the evening."

Ranma nodded, as the doctor started to rattle off a list of 'doctor's orders' for her to follow during her recovery, most of them seemingly intended to keep her from inadvertently popping her stitches. Again. By the time the doctor was finished, she was convinced that she would be thoroughly bored by the time the stitches were to come out.

* * *

Jadeite scowled at his rival, Nephrite, as he stood to the side in Beryl's chamber, that insufferable smirk once again on his face. He knew Nephrite had something to do with Beryl summoning him, and that smug look on his rival's face did not bode well. As much as he wanted to wipe that smirk right off Nephrite's face, his queen had summoned him, and the moment he had spent glaring at his rival was almost a moment too long. He turned his attention to Queen Beryl as he approached her, and knelt before her. "You summoned me, my Queen?" he said, without taking his eyes off the floor.

"Nephrite has informed me that the Senshi have been weakened, that it is a prime time to strike and defeat them. I want you to initiate an attack," said Beryl.

"My Queen, the time is not yet right. We haven't yet tracked down the bearer of the Silver Crystal, and-" Jadeite said, but was interrupted.

"Silence! I am already aware of your failures, first in the loss of the energy harvests from the last two youma, and then your inability to locate the Silver Crystal despite knowing the identity of its holder. Will you fail me a third time?"

"Of course not, my Queen. I simply ask you to allow me enough time to gather the energy needed to empower another youma. It is too soon after our last attack, and-"

"How pitiful," interrupted Nephrite. "So afraid to fail again that he will not strike when the opportunity presents itself. My Queen, perhaps you should-"

"SILENCE!" commanded Beryl, and both Jadeite and Nephrite fell silent. She turned to Nephrite. "You may have your chance soon, for if Jadeite fails once more it shall be the last thing he ever does," she said, and then turned her cruel gaze on Jadeite. "Do you understand, Jadeite? I have tolerated your inability to deal with the Senshi, because the additional energy you have gathered has gone a long way toward reviving Metallia. Your recent failures haven't even done that much, and to make matters even worse I am informed you allowed the Prince of Earth to escape."

"My Queen, Endymion is-" started Jadeite, but was interrupted once more.

"I have no interest in whatever your plans with him are. Endymion is MINE! I will not allow Serenity's spawn a chance at him again. NEVER AGAIN! You will defeat the Senshi and recover the Prince of Earth, and you will do it NOW! I don't think I need to tell you what will happen if you fail me again."

"My Queen, give me one week, and I will give you Prince Endymion, the defeat of the senshi, and the Silver Crystal," Jadeite said, thinking frantically. A week wouldn't give him enough time to fully empower a youma, but perhaps he could gather enough energy to send a squad of slightly empowered youma...

"There's no telling when the imprisoned Senshi will be released or escape," said Nephrite. Jadeite scowled at him, but Nephrite only showed him that infuriating smirk of his before continuing. "It's really best if we strike as soon as possible, before the Senshi are even given the opportunity to rescue their comrades.

"Two days, Jadeite. You have two days to defeat the senshi and recover Endymion. Now get out of my sight, and don't let me see you again until you've succeeded."

"Yes, my Queen," said Jadeite and quickly stood, leaving the chamber.

Nephrite watched Jadeite go, a predatory grin on his face. His plan was working out perfectly. Either Jadeite would quit his bumbling about and actually deal with the Senshi, or he would fail and HE would deal with the senshi. Either way, this stalemate between the Senshi and the Dark Kingdom would end. It was beyond him how a group of young girls could hold off their attacks for so long.

He bowed to his queen and excused himself. Whether or not Jadeite succeeded, he had plans to make. He returned to his own chambers to consult the stars. The gambit had been played, the pawn pushed forward for sacrifice. The game was about to begin in earnest.

* * *

Well, here it is, finally. Late again, my apologies. At almost 5400 words, it falls into about the average length of this story's chapters so far. Thank you to my beta readers, weebee and Aikoyu Saotome, as well as the great people at fukufics.

Things are starting to happen here in this chapter, and the storm is starting to build in strength. I imagine that Murtaugh is absolutely horrified at what his partner might have in mind. Granted, whatever he's imagining Riggs is about to do is probably worse than what he actually has in mind, but given that this is _Riggs_ we're talking about here...

Minako gives us a glimpse into the state of the Senshi team, and things look bleak. With Ranma still in the hospital, the Outers minus Pluto in jail, and the Senshi team fracturing under its own stress, I'd imagine things are going to get worse before they get any better.


	10. Chapter 9

"You can't just leave!"

Ami looked over her shoulder at Minako. Makoto and Rei were still staring at her, speechless, after she had announced her departure from the Senshi team, but Minako seemed to have found her voice and was even now moving to intercept her. She sighed. She had hoped that the shock of her announcement would keep them from coming after her until she was long gone, or was at least far enough outside of Rei's room to get away.

"Yes I can, and I am. I'm not going to be a Senshi anymore," she said. She tried to continue her exit from Rei's room, but was stopped by Minako grabbing her arm, holding her back.

"You can't just do this! After everything we've been through togeth-"

The sound of the slap resounded in the small bedroom, and both Makoto and Rei gasped as Minako fell back from the force of the blow. Ami glared down at Minako's shocked look. "Everything we've been through together? _Together?!_ Let me tell you about what _I've _been through. I was forced to join a group of strangers in their war against an evil extra-dimensional force, and it's not even because I'm qualified to do it, it's because I'm the only one that _can_. I wasn't even given a choice. My school life is _constantly_ interrupted by having to join in your fights against those monsters, and what can I even do against them? I can't even pinpoint their weaknesses anymore, like I could against the first few youma. I just shoot fucking bubbles!'

Minako gaped at the angry Senshi of Water, her hand touching her face where she received the stinging blow. She tried to come up with something to say, anything that could defuse the normally calm Senshi's exploding temper, but couldn't even begin to come up with anything as Ami continued her angry rant.

"So I'm completely useless in battle, and these battles are interfering with my schoolwork," Ami complained as she continued on her tirade. "But as if that's not bad enough, we're LOSING our war against the Dark Kingdom. Don't you dare dispute that, Rei, you KNOW I'm right." Ami glared at Rei who was just opening her mouth to say something, stopping the Senshi of Fire in her tracks. "And don't get me started on YOU, Makoto," she said as she turned her heated gaze on the Senshi of Thunder. "You don't even do your own homework anymore, you just expect that I'm going to be perfectly happy to do it for you so you can keep goofing around and doing whatever it is you do."

Makoto looked as if she had just been hit by a metal bat at that. Minako finally found her voice again. "Come on, Ami. You can't mean-"

"I can't mean any of what I'm saying? I mean every word of it, and I'm not even done yet!" Ami interrupted. "I could have dealt with everything, but it doesn't even seem like we're making a difference. People are DYING, and there's nothing we can do about it. So what if we keep casualties to a minimum, they're all going to die anyway when the Dark Kingdom finally wins!"

Rei was the one to find her voice this time. "You know that's not true. What about Ranma? She can save them!"

"Oh, yes, let's talk about Ranma. The reincarnation of Princess Serenity, the Moon Princess. The pampered, spoiled daughter of the Queen. She's going to just step in and make everything alright again," said Ami, her voice thick with sarcasm. "Even if she is stronger in this life than she ever was in the Silver Millennium, that's not a very high hurdle to jump. And even if she would make any sort of difference against the Dark Kingdom, have you forgotten where she is right now? She's in the hospital, after a _Senshi_ beat her nearly to death."

"I _almost_ had hope after these last two youma. I _almost_ believed that things were going to start to get better. But then the Princess we've been waiting nearly a year for was betrayed and back-stabbed by _one of our own!_ And you know what? I actually feel pretty damn silly for having any hope that a silly, spoiled, pampered china doll was going to-"

Another slap resounded through the room, and as Ami recoiled from the impact, her eyes met the furious visage of the Senshi of Love. "How dare you," started Minako in a low tone. "How dare you!" she said louder, at nearly a yell. "Princess Serenity was nothing but nice to you. She was nothing but nice to all of us. She was the kindest, most loving person I have ever known in either life, and I don't ever, EVER want to hear you disparage her like that again! She deserves better!"

Ami scowled back at Minako for a moment before simply turning on her heel and leaving Rei's room without another word, heading for the shrine's exit.

Minako sighed as she turned back toward the other two Senshi. The heavy, awkward silence hung over the room for several minutes, until Makoto finally stood. "I think I should just go too," she said, and started to leave.

Minako's voice made her pause. "Are you going to come back?"

Makoto thought about that for a moment. "I don't know," she said. "I'll let you know when I figure that out." She said nothing more as she completed her exodus from the room, leaving Rei and Minako alone.

The two remaining Senshi stared at each other in the silence, neither of them seeming to have anything to say. After long moments, Minako finally spoke up. "I guess I'll be going home."

Rei nodded. "Okay. Don't come back."

Minako blinked. "_Excuse_ me?"

"Oh, are you deaf as well as stupid? I said, don't come back here," Rei said.

"But... this is the Senshi meeting place, and I'm the leader..." Minako started.

"Oh really? You mean how you just led Ami and Makoto right out of the group? Great job there, oh wonderful leader. Please leave now. I'll clean up your mess for you," Rei said, and turned away from Minako.

"I... but..." Minako sputtered. "You can't..." she started, but stopped. Rei had just kicked her out of the Senshi team she was the leader of. She'd wanted Rei to take over leadership, but she'd wanted to still be part of the group.

On the other hand, what group was left? The outers were in jail, Ami was gone, Makoto as well, and Rei just threw her out. The Senshi, as a group, were no more. Numbly, she turned and started walking, heading home once she left the shrine.

* * *

The Juuban District Hospital stood in the same space it always had, and Ami paused a moment to take in the view before finally entering. She had always liked hospitals; it always impressed her that such a large building was dedicated almost entirely to healing people. The fact that such a large building was necessary was not lost on her, nor the fact that there were similar buildings scattered throughout Tokyo to deal with injuries and sicknesses in the area. All that meant to Ami, though, was that the field of Medicine was an important and necessary one.

She frowned as she remembered her errand here, and the reason she had embarked on it. She had scarcely walked ten feet from the Hikawa Shrine Rei lived in before quite literally running into, of all people, Sailor Pluto... or rather, Setsuna Meioh, her civilian form. She had glared at the older Senshi at first, the look in her eyes daring Setsuna to try and turn her from her decision.

Setsuna had simply brushed herself off after the impact, looked her in the eyes, and shaken her head sadly. "I had hoped to meet with everyone together to reveal some information about our Princess, but I can see that won't be possible now," she said.

"You're not going to try to stop me?" Ami asked, somewhat confused as she continued walking toward her home.

Setsuna just shrugged as she fell into step beside her. "It's not my place to command. Especially not now that our Princess has returned to us."

"Oh, don't even talk to me about 'our Princess'. I remember that little twit in the Silver Millennium. She couldn't command a trained dog to sit, and I haven't seen that she's all that different now." Ami said venomously. "Not that it even really matters either way, because with the injuries Minako reported she has she'll be out of commission for weeks. That's assuming we can even get her brooch back from the Outers who, I might add, are in Jail!"

"Days, actually, assuming she doesn't transform and hasten the process," replied Setsuna. "And she already has her brooch back."

Ami scoffed. "Nobody heals that fast. Not even us."

"Really? My mistake then," said Setsuna, a small smile on her face.

Ami scowled at her before sighing. "If you aren't here to stop me, and you're not going to try to change my mind, what do you want?" she asked.

"I want you to talk to Ranma," Setsuna answered.

Ami stopped. "Excuse me?"

"Just talk to Ranma. Have a chat with her. It doesn't have to be about anything important, just try to get to know her a little," said Setsuna.

"Excuse me, miss. Do you... Oh, hi Ami! Are you here to see your mother?"

Ami's mind was jolted back to the present by the voice of the receptionist at the front desk. "No, I'm actually here to visit a... friend," she replied, somewhat flustered that she had been caught with her mind elsewhere. "What room is Ranma Saotome in, and is she well enough to have visitors?"

With the injuries Minako had reported Ranma having, she still had a hard time believing that Ranma was in any condition other than drugged out of her mind on painkillers. Consequently, the receptionist's response came as a complete surprise. "Oh, the girl that was attacked by a Senshi? She's doing well, and is driving the nurses on duty crazy. I'm sure it would be a relief to them for you to distract her for a while," the receptionist gossiped, and giggled.

Ami was stunned as she was given the room number and waved through. A girl that was admitted in critical condition only the evening before was not usually in a condition to accept visitors the very next day. She'd expected to be turned away at the door and be able to tell Pluto that she tried; she didn't expect to actually be able to talk to Ranma so soon.

The feeling she had when she reached the room she had been directed to was one of surreality. She could hear voices from the other side of the door, as the supposedly critically injured girl argued with one of the nurses on duty. "I know I'm supposed to be resting. You've told me that at least a dozen times now. But you could at least let me walk around a bit and stretch my legs. I'm going crazy just lying here in bed!"

Ami gaped at the door at that. This was Princess Serenity's reincarnation? "You'll be in a wheelchair, or you won't be going out at all, young lady. We will not have you injuring yourself further."

"But a wheelchair defeats the point of going for a walk!"

"Are you here to see Ranma?" A voice from behind Ami made her jump. She turned to see one of the nurses looking at her, and when the nurse saw her face she lit up in recognition. "Ami! I haven't seen you around here much lately. Is Ranma a friend of yours?" the nurse asked.

Ami quickly composed herself and schooled her features. "Yes, she is. Can I see her?" she asked, knowing the question was unnecessary; she wouldn't have made it this far if the answer was no.

"Please do! It's all we can do just to keep her in her bed, a friendly face might calm her down some," the nurse said. She opened the door and called into the room. "Ranma, a friend is here to visit."

The nurse still inside the room turned to look at the door, relief visible on her face. She turned back and frowned at Ranma. "I have other patients to check on, so you can talk with your friend. But don't you dare try to get out of that bed again, or when I come back I'll have you put in restraints!"

The nurse smiled at Ami as she left the room, and the two nurses went to do their rounds, leaving Ami alone with Ranma. 'Well, I'm here,' Ami thought as she approached the only occupied bed. 'Now what?'

Ranma smiled at her as she stood by the bed. "Ami, right? Thanks for coming. I was bored out of my mind. I don't suppose you could get me out of here, at least for a few minutes?"

Ami gave Ranma a dirty look. "You know, what you're doing to the nurses here isn't very nice. They have a stressful job as it is, taking care of all the patients," she said in an accusatory tone.

"Aw, come on. I'm not hurting anyone. It beats counting ceiling tiles, or reading about sparkly vampires," Ranma said.

Ami almost gave Ranma a sympathetic look. "Oh god, one of the nurses tried to get you to read Twilight? Those books are beyond awful," she said. "I bet it was Hitomi, wasn't it?"

Ranma shrugged. "I don't know all the nurses' names yet, and hopefully I'll be out of here before I have a chance to learn them all. The doc said I might be able to go... home..." Ranma paused as a sad look crossed her face. "I can leave tomorrow evening."

Ami frowned. Despite the fact that she'd gone a round with Jadeite, about which Ami still only had Ranma's word to go on, this was still the silly, pampered girl she had been in the Silver Millennium. "Poor nurses, having to deal with you until then," she needled her.

For a moment, she saw the hurt look on Ranma's face that she was expecting. The Princess had never taken teasing very well, and at one time in her past life she had decided to make it a point to tease the Princess whenever possible, if only so she would learn to deal with it better.

The look was only there for a moment, though, before it was replaced by something Ami didn't recognize. Ranma smirked. "Well, maybe if this hospital had better books, I wouldn't be so bored. There's nothing good on the TV public channels either, and I can't pay for any of the movie channels."

"I'm sure the hospital does have better books. Hitomi is a little... strange. I can probably get you a book or two that you'd actually like," Ami said, still confused over Ranma's reaction. The hurt had been there, and she was sure Ranma had been about to pout, or start whining at her for being mean.

"If you say so," said Ranma dubiously. "At this point I'd do anything to get out of here, but if you think there's other books here I'd enjoy, I'll give them a read."

Ami looked at the smile on Ranma's face. The same trusting look the Princess had always given her. That same carefree, lackadaisical smile that had infuriated her so much in the Silver Millennium. How could one person be so trusting, so naïve? She made her decision. "Before I do that, I have something for you. Here," she said, summoned her transformation wand from her subspace storage pocket, and tossed it to Ranma.

Ranma caught it easily, and looked confusedly at her when she realized what it was. "Ami, why are you giving me this?" she asked.

"I'm not a Senshi anymore. Please return these to Artemis," Ami said, as she summoned her communicator and likewise handed it to Ranma.

Ranma watched her summon the Mercury Computer as well, and hesitate. Some of what she was feeling must have shown on her face, because Ranma held up a hand and shook her head. "Ami, no. I can't take these from you. They're yours."

Ami scowled, nearly giving in to the urge to throw the Mercury Computer at the girl before her, but even in her rage she couldn't bear to part with it. Her arm trembled as she contemplated hitting Ranma instead. "Didn't you just hear me? I'm not going to be a Senshi anymore. I don't need these. I don't want these. Take them back!"

Ranma just shook her head again. "You're a Senshi, whether or not you have these." she said.

The sharp sound of the slap rang through the small hospital room, and Ami gave an almost surprised look down at her own hand as she lowered it. She hadn't meant to _actually_ hit Ranma. Now that she had, though, she'd have to deal with the waterworks. She hardened her resolve, and looked up to see the undoubtedly tearful face of the Princess...

Ranma's clear, blue gaze met hers, without a trace of the emotion she was expecting. "I probably did deserve to be slapped for what you thought I just said, but that's not how I meant it. Could you let me finish before you slap me again?"

Ami was stunned. No tears, no recriminations, no blame. Ranma wasn't even acting as if she felt the slap. Ami just nodded dumbly.

Ranma thought for a moment before she started speaking again. "Whether or not you have your Senshi items, you're still a Senshi, no matter what. It's your birthright, and a part of you that will never change. The transformation wand, and the Mercury Computer... they're yours. They're a part of who you are, and nobody can take them away. Not now, not ever." Ranma held the wand back to Ami. "Besides," she continued, "It's better to have them and not need them, than to need them and not have them."

Ami blinked. THAT wasn't the Princess Serenity she was expecting. She'd expected an impassioned speech insisting that she stay with the Senshi team, not a well-reasoned and, quite frankly, practical argument for her to keep her Senshi items. She did have to concede to the logic in that statement though, as she reluctantly accepted her wand back. As she returned it and the Mercury Computer to her subspace pocket, her eyes fell on her communicator. "What about..." she started.

Ranma followed Ami's gaze to the device she still held in her hand. "Oh, this? It's a communicator for members of the Senshi team, isn't it?" She shrugged, and sent it off to her own subspace pocket.

Ami wanted to ask why Ranma wasn't insisting that she stay with the Senshi, why she was so accepting of her decision to leave the team. Even if Ranma had only just arrived, even if she hadn't officially joined the Senshi, she was still their Princess, the one whose protection they were charged with above all else. Before she could open her mouth to ask, though, she saw the look on Ranma's face. Sadness. _Trust._

"Aren't you going to ask me why?" Ami asked, trying to goad Ranma into a more familiar reaction. The naïve trust was there, but Ranma should have been insisting that they stick together, that they belonged together, or some such nonsense about loyalty, or friendship.

Ranma's answer baffled her. "You've got your reasons," was the response.

Ami was confused. Ranma certainly acted the part of the spoiled princess, but her reactions were becoming more and more... well, off. She hadn't broken down when she was teased, she didn't cry when she was slapped, and she wasn't trying to keep the team together despite hell or high water. Ami remembered all the times Princess Serenity had insisted that they should all be friends, and she even remembered Ranma doing the same not too long ago. What had happened? When had the Princess started to grow up?

Ranma cleared her throat. "So, how about those books?" she asked. Ami just blinked at her, and her face clouded into a pout. "Aw come on, Ami. I'm dying of boredom here!" she whined.

Ami giggled at that. Ranma was still a spoiled brat, but maybe... just maybe she was a spoiled brat that she could get along with. "Alright, let me see what I can find. I'll be right back," she said, and started to head for the small hospital library.

* * *

Minako stared up at the ceiling above her bed. Her thoughts were a confused jumble, and her feelings were a mess. She'd been kicked off the Senshi team, the team that she herself was the leader of. She should have been more... angry, or hurt, or something. Instead, she just felt... numb.

She felt a paw on her forehead, and Artemis's face entered her view. "Are you alright, Minako?" the white Mau asked.

"No, I'm not," she answered. "The Senshi... the team is done. First Ami decided that she didn't want to be a Senshi anymore, and then Makoto left. After that, Rei threw me out."

Artemis gave her a horrified look. "But what about the Dark Kingdom, and the Princess, and-"

"The Dark Kingdom is winning anyway!" Minako interrupted. "That's why the Senshi team fell apart tonight. The outers are in jail, and the rest of us just... broke off. It's over."

"But that's not... you can't..." Artemis sputtered.

Minako felt a weight land on her chest, and looked down to find Luna sitting there. "Well, that's certainly not the leader of the Senshi I remember."

"Well, I'm glad you're feeling better," Minako said, then snorted. "You probably remember my mother. I'm a Senshi now because she's long gone. I'm just a girl that failed at leading the Senshi against the Dark Kingdom."

"Your mother? I know my memory of the Silver Millennium is faulty, but I certainly don't remember your mother being the young girl that befriended the Princess." said Luna, and sniffed. "The girl I remember led a group of other girls, all of them princesses, to battle against overwhelming odds. They each fought using their mothers' training wands, stolen from the royal armory, and their determination helped the Moon Princess escape an entire youma battle group that ambushed her craft on its way to Earth."

Minako sighed as those memories surfaced. "It was different then. I was fighting for Flower-chan. When I heard that her shuttle had been ambushed and there wasn't anyone that could get to her... I had to do _something_. I couldn't just let my little sister die. Now the stakes are so much higher. It's not just about Flower-chan anymore. I fought for her and willingly died for her then. Now we're fighting for... for _everything_. It's too much."

The two mau exchanged a worried look, before turning back to Minako. "This isn't like you. There's something else going on, isn't there?" asked Artemis. "What's wrong?"

Minako stared at the ceiling for long moments before responding. "It's my fault," she finally said. "The Dark Kingdom winning, the team falling apart... it's all my fault. I'm not good enough."

"Now Minako, you know that's not true," said Artemis.

"Isn't it?" Minako demanded. "Isn't it a leader's job to make sure everyone gets along and works together? I was never able to get the Senshi to really be a team. We were barely even friends on a good day. If I were a better leader..."

"If you were a better leader, you still wouldn't have been able to repair the rift in the outers group," interrupted Artemis. "Pluto and Uranus were never going to get along, and you would never have been able to force them to."

"But that's not the only thing, Artemis," said Minako. "Rei and I are as close as any of us inners got, and we barely get along. And if I were a better leader, I'd have been able to see this coming! I didn't even know... I should have known how Ami felt. I..." Minako trailed off.

"Did Ami say something that upset you?" asked Luna.

"No. I mean, yes... I mean..." Minako stopped and sighed. "Yes I'm upset at what Ami said, especially when she started to disparage the Princess. But what upset me most was that a lot of her reasons for leaving... the things she said... I kinda agree with her."

Minako sighed as she sat up, shifting Luna to her lap. "The Dark Kingdom is winning. That's been true since the beginning. This war has been slowly escalating right from the start. The Dark Kingdom keeps sending stronger and stronger youma, but we aren't getting any stronger. We've been fighting to keep the casualties to a minimum, but the Dark Kingdom is always one step ahead of us. Now they're too strong... we can't keep fighting them. We aren't making any difference."

"That's not true," said Artemis. "You're saving lives."

Minako snorted. "We're not saving anyone. People are still dying."

"How many more people would have died if the Senshi didn't stop the youma? Every life you save matters."

"And what about the lives we didn't save? Do those lives not matter?" Minako asked. "What am I supposed to say to the families of the people that died? 'Sorry, I couldn't save them. But it's okay, we saved other people'? We can't face them, Artemis. That's why everyone hates us, and there's nothing we can do."

"It's not your fault..." started Artemis.

"No, it isn't..." Minako said, and sighed. "But that doesn't change anything."

An uncomfortable silence fell over the three of them, and Minako sighed once more as she let herself fall back onto her back. Moments later, though, the silence was broken by the sound of a knock on her door. "Minako, Dear. Dinner is ready," came her mother's muffled voice.

"Coming," Minako said. "Well, it looks like I'm going to get my wish," she said to the two Mau as she left the room. "At least until the Dark Kingdom takes over, I can be a normal girl again."

"This is bad," said Artemis, after Minako left.

Luna nodded. "But what can we do? The only one that can give these girls hope is the Princess, and she's..."

"In the hospital," Artemis finished. "Let's just pray the Dark Kingdom doesn't attack again soon.

* * *

Nephrite laughed to himself from his concealment in Jadeite's quarters. The fool had _still_ not noticed him in his frenzy to come up with a workable plan to deal with the Senshi. From the plans he had overheard Jadeite come up with, and then discard, it was clear his rival was beyond desperate.

He considered taunting his rival with his uselessness, but waved off that idea. After all, his purpose had been to get Jadeite to quit messing around with the Senshi and deal with them for good, and a few of the half-formed plans he had heard Jadeite muttering sounded like they could actually work. Deciding that there was nothing more for him to do here until his rival settled on a single plan, he quietly teleported himself back to his own quarters.

Jadeite, for his part, was frantic. Sure, the Senshi team was down by three of its strongest members, but there were still too many unknowns to account for. The three Senshi that had been imprisoned may have been the most powerful, but he hadn't had a chance to gauge the new Senshi's strength yet. Imposter or not, the power he had felt coming off her had been considerable. If he underestimated her strength, it could mean his whole plan could fall apart.

Any plan he could come up with always had that same critical weakness: he didn't have enough energy in reserve to ensure the Senshi's demise. He didn't have enough energy to empower a youma to defeat the entire remaining Senshi group. He didn't have enough energy to send enough youma to overwhelm the Senshi. He couldn't even send enough youma to gather enough energy for either of those in time for the Queen's deadline.

"It's all that new Senshi's fault," he grumbled. Without the three imprisoned Senshi, it should have been easy to overpower the rest. The one with the staff would have presented the most trouble, and probably would have escaped when the rest were overwhelmed... but once the others were killed, she alone would hardly be a threat. Add the new girl and her unknown level of strength to the situation, though, and his reserves went from 'barely adequate' to get the job done, to 'woefully inadequate'. He would have to be foolish to assume her strength was on the same level as the other remaining Senshi. He remembered how hard her attack had hit his shielding; if the girl had pressed her attack and been able to keep it up long enough, it may have shattered the barrier. That put her nearly on the level of the imprisoned Senshi, who could each do the same.

He needed a power boost, he realized. The Senshi, as a group, were too strong for him to defeat with his current reserves of energy. He needed a game-changer, something that would give him the edge. His eyes fell on one corner of his quarters, where he kept numerous little curiosities and artifacts. Most of them were useless, such as the 1/10 scale model of the Senshi of Fire (WHY did he still have that thing? He should have destroyed it long ago.), the fragments of a life energy battery gem (He grumbled at that. There was enough life energy stored within this one gem to resolve all his problems, but nobody in the Dark Kingdom could figure out how to extract it. Attempts to destroy the original gem to get at the life energy had only resulted in it breaking into four parts, each fragment containing a quarter of the energy the gem had held.), the life energy vortex grenade...

He stopped as he eyed that last item. The grenade had been a failed project, an attempt to create a weapon that could be thrown at the Senshi to neutralize them. It would cause a vortex that would completely drain anyone caught within it of life energy in seconds. Unfortunately, there were three problems with the device that made it unusable. The first was the amount of energy it took to create one. It took far more energy to create just one of these grenades than it took to create a squad of combat youma. The second problem was its effective area; the resulting vortex was far too small, and the Senshi would have no problem jumping out of its range if they saw it coming. The third, and most important problem with it: It just didn't work on the Senshi. Most of the energy that went into the creation of the grenades had been an attempt to amp up the life vortex effect to overcome the Senshi's resistance to being drained. Unfortunately, the first field test had revealed that the Senshi's 'resistance' was more along the lines of 'immunity', so further development had been halted.

As he studied the last remaining grenade, an idea came to him. An idea that, if it worked, would resolve his lack of energy and destroy the Senshi in one fell swoop. He might even have time to recover that traitor Endymion before the Queen lost patience. His face cracked into a slightly crazed grin as a plan formed in his mind.

A youma shuddered at the sound of maniacal laughter coming from within the room Jadeite occupied. Despite having been ordered to guard the door, it decided that it wanted to be _anywhere_ else, and wandered off. Maybe it could get Zoycite to give it a better job... or put it out of its misery.

* * *

There's a lot of slapping happening in this chapter. Be nice, Ami.

This chapter came in at a little under 5400 words. About average for my chapters at this point, and a nice comfortable length for me to write.

This chapter was difficult to write. Emotions were running a little high at a few points, and after writing those scenes in particular I had to stop to recover. After the first scene with the inners, my hands were literally shaking. In any case, I can't really use that as an excuse for being 2 weeks late again, since there's still plenty of time in a month.

Some quick responses to reviews:

~praeceps29: Insufficient information. Elaborate.

~Compucles: This is less than 3 full days after Ranma's arrival in Nerima. Going by the canon Ranma 1/2 timeline, Ryoga is due to show up any day now. Of course, this isn't exactly canon, so he could show up at any time. Due to the different circumstances, Cologne could show up at any time. Also due to the different circumstances, Shampoo may or may not even show up, depending on whether Cologne decides to bring her along. Happosai wouldn't be showing up for a while. Neither would Ukyo. The engagement to Akane went differently, and Ranma isn't living at the Tendo Dojo, so the Tendo sisters won't be featured as prominently in this fic. And none of this is even spoiler, since I'm just pointing out what's already been written in my fic so far or comparing the timeline I've used to the canon Ranma timeline. If you want to see more of the Ranma 1/2 characters, be patient and keep reading. Right now Ranma's in Sailor Moon central, so it makes sense that the Sailor Moon characters are featured more prominently currently. It will take some time before the Ranma characters start making their way there for one reason or another.

TL:DR version: If you want to see more Ranma 1/2 characters, keep reading. They'll show up sooner or later.

~joustingforcancer: This is less crossover and more cameo. Don't worry, the Lethal Weapon characters will be making an exit not long after their purpose in the plot is fulfilled.

~Jerry Unipeg: Please, just stop. Just posting "GREAT CHAPTER! (x4)" or similar doesn't help an author, and you've posted exactly that in numerous reviews on my fic (logged in or not). You've posted the exact same review, also, on numerous other fics. It's starting to seem more than a little bit insincere, and honestly, it's just as useful to an author as 'This fic sux'; it doesn't tell an author anything they could use to improve themselves.

If you want to post a review that an author will appreciate, write in the review about what exactly makes the chapter so great. Or if you don't like a chapter, write about what you don't like. Heck, even if you do think it's a great chapter but there's things you still don't like, point them out. Barring any of that, don't review at all. Really, I'm flattered you like the story so much, but I don't post on FFN to have my ego stroked; I do it to get feedback on my writing and improve my writing style.


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